Mayors of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras Protest Mine Operation
An aerial view of the Rio Lempa, near el Paisnal in El Salvador, March 14, 2022. Mayors in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras fear that the mine will worsen the state of pollution already suffered by the river.
© MARVIN RECINOS/AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Latin America, mayors from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are standing together against the operation of a mine located in Guatemala.
The toxic chemicals used to harvest the gold would be spread over hundreds of kilometers by the Lempa River.
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According to the collective "
Mancomunidad Trinacional Fronteriza Río Lempa
" (Trinational Community of Río Lempa Municipalities, in French) which brings together a dozen mayors, the Canadian company Bluestone Resources managing the Cerro Blanco mine wants to make it an open-pit mine.
This method which involves the use of large quantities of cyanide and arsenic, toxic substances which will cause “
irreparable
” damage to the environment, water and ecosystems,
affirms the collective of mayors
.
According to them, the mine, located in the municipality of Asunción Mita, in southeastern Guatemala, has already contaminated the basin of the Ostua River, endangering the population of the three countries.
After passing through Lake Güija, this basin brings its waters to the Lempa River, which crosses Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - where it provides irrigation systems and drinking water to more than a million inhabitants of the metropolis San Salvador.
The collective of mayors therefore requests that operating permits not be issued.
“ Responsible
”
mining
The CEO of Bluestone Resources, which he has managed since 2017, Jack Lundin, boasts for his part "
responsible mining which offers socio-economic benefits
".
And the businessman to denounce "
groups known in the region for disseminating erroneous information on the impacts of development projects
" like his.
"
The request for modification of the environmental permit was submitted to the national authorities at the end of last year [...] to incorporate the new method of open-pit mining
," the company said in a statement released on Monday on its website.
►Also read: Report - Amerindian communities in Ecuador fight against mines
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