According to a former worker, gold miners from Las Juntas de Abangare are migrating to Crucitas, in San Carlos.
The reason is that after years of working in the area, as reported by the source, the gold extraction in Las Juntas de Abangares ceased to be an attractive and profitable activity.
In that Pacific area, there are no more than 3 “bigwigs” who monopolized the gold mining business; the other people are humble people who look for a stroke of luck to make money and who want a job.
In addition, excavations, drill holes and tunnels to find gold are increasingly dangerous and the activity profitability is no longer the same as before.
As consequence, gold miners started to be interested in Crucitas gold.
After “getting in touch” with people from that region, some gold miners dared to leave illegally and enter the huge estate where Industrias Infinito failed to extract gold in open-pit mining. Now, the gold rush is back in San Carlos.
Since then, Crucitas has been called the “hottest spot” and “virgin” to extract gold in Costa Rica and dozens of gold miners have settled in clandestine camps in the area.
A few weeks ago, an operation to remove a group was conducted. Authorities seized equipment and materials.
At the moment there are about 40 gold miners, but that number is expected to increase in the coming days.
The gold extracted from Crucitas would be being exported to the United States. In Costa Rica the business is no longer profitable.