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President Chinchilla Signs Decree Banning Open Pit Mining

The long-delayed Crucitas mining project that won the approval of Costa Rica's high court a few weeks back will have to wait another four year or more, following the signing of a decree banning open-pit mining in Costa Rica, her first act as president on Saturday.

The decree indefinitely suspends "the exploration, extraction and processing of the materials extracted through the use of cyanide and mercury."

It also repeals an executive order by former President Oscar Arias which established an environmental safeguard for mining in the country and spelled out the environmental regulations for mining.

Presidential spokesman Carol Roversi said gold mining is not profitable enough to sacrifice the environmental aspect of a country which depends heavily on environmental tourism, a $2 billion-a-year source of revenue.

In 2002 then President Abel Pacheco issued a presidential decree banning open-pit mining in Costa Rica. At the time, Pacheco declared, "We have many reasons for rescinding these [gold mining] contracts, and if they sue us for compensation it will be cheaper than paying for the loss of the country and its environment."

But his successor, President Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and economist, overturned the ban when he assumed the office of president, declaring Infinito Gold's Crucitas in the country's national interest.

Last month the Constitutional Court ruled that challenges to the granting of permits allowing for the development of Infinito Gold's Crucitas project were without merit and that the US$66 million gold project should resume.

Nevertheless, the project remains tied up in court after Costa Rica's Administrative Contention Tribunal decided that the public interest in protecting the environment must prevail. The Tribunal claims the favorable ruling of the Supreme Court was a basic or summary decision. Until the complete, detailed decision can be reviewed, the Tribunal said the injunction to halt mining activities would continue.

Construction activity was suspended at the mine site in October 2008.

Infinito's largest shareholder is reportedly Canadian billionaire Ron Mannix, a former coal company executive with family interests in oil, gas and mining.

Located near the border of Nicaragua, Crucitas will be Costa Rica's first major gold mine with a capacity to produce 85,000 ounces of gold annually and an indicated resource of 1.2 million ounces of gold.

However, environmentalists fear the mine operator would cut down virgin forest which includes trees that are home to the endangered great green macaw and other rare birds. Others fear cyanide could leak into the San Juan River, which crosses both Costa Rica and Nicaragua.







 
 
 
 
 

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