Protest a Mine by Digging a Hole
Project in Las Crucitas de Cutris would transform lanscape.
Protestors against the open pit gold mine dug a nice hole at the rotunda in front of Mall San Pedro, which a reporter from Eraverde, the university television station called “creative”.
The dig on Wednesday was actually a stunt to draw more publicity for the big event on Thursday when protesters marched on the Costa Rican Supreme Court.
At issue is a court decision that would clear the way for mining at a gold deposit near Las Crucitas de Cutris in the northern zone of Costa Rican near the border with Nicaragua. The project run by a subsidiary of Canadian mining firm, Vannessa Ventures Ltd. has been marred by legal disputes and was declared of a national interest last year by President Oscar Arias.
As is the case with environmental questions it’s difficult for the average person to make much of an assessment to whether the Infinito Gold Mine is good for the country. Clearly some people in a relatively impoverished area of the country will receive jobs.
Exhibit from Costa Rica Gold Musuem
Gold is a precious metal, and apart from jewelry is used as an industrial component in electrical devices and spacecraft.
Costa Rica has long been home to hidden deposits of gold and the ancient cultures have left behind plenty of evidence, much of which is on display at the Gold Museum in San Jose.
The development company plans to use cyanide in the extraction process, but has promised to protect the environment.
Doubts have been raised about the viability of any protective barrier in a seismic zone, and clearly any kind of open pit mining leaves a blight on the landscape. If the project goes forward, which is very likely, then hopefully the rehabilitation plan will restore the area to a reasonably pristine state.
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Filed Under: Local News
I suppose it wouldn't do to just leave this stuff in the ground until (a) there is found a more environmentally correct way of extracting, addressing for example those seismic concerns AND (b) waiting til all other sources of easily extractable gold have been exhausted, thus raising the price of CR gold? Of course you could say the same about those drill-happy bastards in the US in re: oil.
This "naturalist" Ticos just make me laugh. 95% of them only care about making noise and skipping school.