Andalgalá, Catamarca – Argentina.
Local citizens suffered a brutal beating, teargas, and rubber bullets fired by local police at a pro-mining meeting held last Thursday between high government officials and mining representatives. International mining companies were seeking accords with local governments to promote open-air gold extraction in Argentina’s far west.
While conference attendees sat alienated and oblivious to what was occurring just meters away outside the meeting venue, at least a dozen people were injured from gunshot wounds, stick beatings, and teargas, when they claimed their right to know about the agreements to be signed. A crowd of over 200 people from the locality and other communities affected by mining in neighboring provinces had traveled to Andalgalá and were marching peacefully through the town to voice their concern over new prospects for open-air gold mining when riot police intercepted the march, provoking the crowd. Andalgalá is home to a decade-long mining venture by Xstrata Copper, Canadian Goldcorp, and Northern Orion Resources, which has left, according to locals, little in the way of riches for local residents, bringing instead poverty and degradation.
With now over 200 newly declared prospective mining projects, mining exploration is on the rise in Argentina, where liberal legislative reforms in the 90s paved the road for new lucrative mining ventures.
Barrick Gold of Canada, for example, is embarking on a controversial gold, silver and copper mine venture along the Chilean and Argentine border, and is willing to dig up a glacier to get to precious metals. The Pascua Lama project is currently under review for final environmental permits from Argentine authorities, while Chile has already granted extraction permits. The Argentines have held up Barrick due to local opposition and mounting government concern over unclear social and environmental implications of the venture. The World Bank has recently commissioned studies of the Pascua Lama project and has expressed concerns over possible unforeseen contamination to the biosphere reserve.
Among the victims of the Andalgalá confrontation was Argentine Congressman Carlos Tinnirello, a well-known opponent of open air-gold mining in Argentina, who received a stick blow to his face in the tumult caused by the police repression. Tinnirello and several other victims have filed complaints to the local prosecutor.
Romina Picolotti, Argentina’s newly appointed Minister for the Environment went public yesterday expressing her concern over the incidents and violence, stating that neither she nor the Argentine government will tolerate violence, human rights violations, or environmental degradation in any mining ventures. She has already suggested to mining prospectors that they can expect strict controls and even a reform to the mining code, to assure the protection of communities and the environment. Picolotti, formerly CEDHA’s President, became nationally recognized for her advocacy in opposition to two controversial pulp mill investments in Uruguay.
Miners at the international gathering hoped to gain much needed governmental accords to operate a new copper and gold mining venture called Agua Rica, near to Andalgalá, which is already the focus of strong resistance from local communities who see their natural resources being sold off and contaminated in exchange for empty promises of development. However, the five governors from surrounding mining provinces cut the miners’ hopes short for striking deals, failing to show up after receiving news that protests and police repression were likely. They were right.
For more information about mining in Argentina: http://www.cedha.org.ar/en/initiatives/mining
contact: david@cedha.org.ar
en Español
Córdoba
La Lucha por el Oro: Policía Reprime Violentamente a Manifestantes Durante Encuentro Internacional Sobre Minería en Andalgalá, Catamarca
http://www.cedha.org.ar/es/comunicados_de_prensa/go.php?id=113
Local citizens suffered a brutal beating, teargas, and rubber bullets fired by local police at a pro-mining meeting held last Thursday between high government officials and mining representatives. International mining companies were seeking accords with local governments to promote open-air gold extraction in Argentina’s far west.
While conference attendees sat alienated and oblivious to what was occurring just meters away outside the meeting venue, at least a dozen people were injured from gunshot wounds, stick beatings, and teargas, when they claimed their right to know about the agreements to be signed. A crowd of over 200 people from the locality and other communities affected by mining in neighboring provinces had traveled to Andalgalá and were marching peacefully through the town to voice their concern over new prospects for open-air gold mining when riot police intercepted the march, provoking the crowd. Andalgalá is home to a decade-long mining venture by Xstrata Copper, Canadian Goldcorp, and Northern Orion Resources, which has left, according to locals, little in the way of riches for local residents, bringing instead poverty and degradation.
With now over 200 newly declared prospective mining projects, mining exploration is on the rise in Argentina, where liberal legislative reforms in the 90s paved the road for new lucrative mining ventures.
Barrick Gold of Canada, for example, is embarking on a controversial gold, silver and copper mine venture along the Chilean and Argentine border, and is willing to dig up a glacier to get to precious metals. The Pascua Lama project is currently under review for final environmental permits from Argentine authorities, while Chile has already granted extraction permits. The Argentines have held up Barrick due to local opposition and mounting government concern over unclear social and environmental implications of the venture. The World Bank has recently commissioned studies of the Pascua Lama project and has expressed concerns over possible unforeseen contamination to the biosphere reserve.
Among the victims of the Andalgalá confrontation was Argentine Congressman Carlos Tinnirello, a well-known opponent of open air-gold mining in Argentina, who received a stick blow to his face in the tumult caused by the police repression. Tinnirello and several other victims have filed complaints to the local prosecutor.
Romina Picolotti, Argentina’s newly appointed Minister for the Environment went public yesterday expressing her concern over the incidents and violence, stating that neither she nor the Argentine government will tolerate violence, human rights violations, or environmental degradation in any mining ventures. She has already suggested to mining prospectors that they can expect strict controls and even a reform to the mining code, to assure the protection of communities and the environment. Picolotti, formerly CEDHA’s President, became nationally recognized for her advocacy in opposition to two controversial pulp mill investments in Uruguay.
Miners at the international gathering hoped to gain much needed governmental accords to operate a new copper and gold mining venture called Agua Rica, near to Andalgalá, which is already the focus of strong resistance from local communities who see their natural resources being sold off and contaminated in exchange for empty promises of development. However, the five governors from surrounding mining provinces cut the miners’ hopes short for striking deals, failing to show up after receiving news that protests and police repression were likely. They were right.
For more information about mining in Argentina: http://www.cedha.org.ar/en/initiatives/mining
contact: david@cedha.org.ar
en Español
Córdoba
La Lucha por el Oro: Policía Reprime Violentamente a Manifestantes Durante Encuentro Internacional Sobre Minería en Andalgalá, Catamarca
http://www.cedha.org.ar/es/comunicados_de_prensa/go.php?id=113