The Honduran government of Xiomara Castro declared the country “free of open pit mining” and announced the “cancellation” of licenses, permits and concessions, fact celebrated on Tuesday by environmentalists but that caused uncertainty in the industry.
“The entire Honduran territory is declared free of open-pit mining (…) and the review, suspension and cancellation of environmental licenses, permits and concessions will proceed,” the Ministry of Energy, Resources said in a statement on Monday. Natural, Environment and Mines.
“The approval of extractivist exploitation permits is canceled because they are harmful to the State of Honduras, that threaten natural resources, public health and limit access to water as human rights”, he added.
According to the Secretariat, “the natural areas of high ecological value will be intervened immediately, ensuring their conservation and common benefits for the people.”
Government will temporarily suspend all mining activity in Napo, after the operation against illegal gold extraction in Yutzupino
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras welcomed the measure, considering that “the principle of climate justice and the protection of natural resources, public health and access to water as a human right prevailed.”
Upon assuming power on January 27, the leftist Castro announced that a ban on open pit mining was one of her plans.
“Here what is done is to prohibit, to kill the possibility of development”
For the advisor to the National Association of Miners of Honduras, Santos Gabino Carvajal, the government statement is “very ambiguous” because “it even prohibits the extraction of stone and sand for construction and violates the Mining Law.”
“We are going to ask to be heard by the government,” Carvajal said.
“It is about doing mining that does not harm people and the environment, but here what is being done is prohibiting, killing the possibility of development. In Central America, the country with the greatest gold potential is Honduras”, he assured.
Carvajal specified that in Honduras there is only one open-pit mining company operating in San Andrés, department of Copán (northwest), controlled by the multinational Aura Minerals, which exploits and exports gold.
However, environmentalists claim for an iron oxide operation of the Los Pinares mining company, in the jurisdiction of Tocoa (northeast), which they accuse of damaging a forest reserve. In 2018, eight environmentalists were imprisoned after demonstrating against this activity. They were just released this year.
“We hope that they not only revoke the concessions but that (the mining companies) are brought to justice, that they make reparations to the victims,” said lawyer Víctor Fernández, defender of the environmentalists.
In Central America, El Salvador was the first country to ban metal mining in 2018while Costa Rica had already banned open pit mining in 2010. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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