President Declines to Halt Las Crucitas Mining Project
Laura Chinchilla and Alfio Piva at Press Conference - Casa Presidencial Photo
The Costa Rican government officially declined to reverse the presidential decree that declares the mining project in Las Crucitas de Curtis as being in the national interest. The decision would seem to clear any legal impediment to the open pit gold mine operation, which the nation’s highest court (Sala IV) had approved in April.
The project approved by the previous administration is deeply controversial, and environmental groups had Marched on the Supreme Court to voice their opposition.
The controversy has also proved to be perhaps the first large scale propaganda campaign over a specific issue to play out in Costa Rican Social Media. The environmental opposition has managed to organize almost 19,000 on their Facebook page.
The government announced its decision through a press release posted to the Casa Presidencial website. The wording of the release says that President Laura Chinchilla will
“maintain her commitment for sustainable development”
by preventing future open pit mining.
Among the reasons cited for moving forward with the project is the fact that the country would be required pay an estimated $1.7 billion in damages to the developer of the mine should it halt the project. This is due to an international treaty that protects foreign commercial interests from exportation of property or concessions.
Vice President Alfio Piva explained at the conference that the figure is equal to seven times the cost of the recently completed San Jose to Caldera highway. According to the CIA Factbook, the government of Costa Rica collected just over $4 billion in tax revenue during the year 2009, which would make a $1.7 billion payout to a foreign developer an enormous financial burden to the small republic.
View Las Crucitas Open Pit Mine in a larger map
The mining consortium controlled by Vannessa Ventures Ltd. has promised to preserve the environment, however the location in an undeveloped part of the country near the border with Nicaragua is a delicate part of the ecosystem.
In all probability the project will go through, however oposition groups have only just started to respond to the latest news.
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Filed Under: Local News
