Costa Rica’s congress voted on Tuesday [9 Nov 2010] to ban all new open-pit mining projects, citing environmental concerns, without blocking the development of the country’s only major gold mine.<\/p>\n
The small Central American country prides itself on jungle wilderness that draws tourists and the lawmakers who proposed the initiative say open-pit methods to dig for metals can cause deforestation and destruction of wildlife habitat.<\/p>\n
Less than one percent of Costa Rica’s gross domestic product comes from metals mining.<\/p>\n
President Laura Chinchilla, who passed a moratorium on mining shortly after taking office this past May, is likely to sign the bill into law, said Jose Castro, head of mining at the Environment Ministry.<\/p>\n
“Costa Rica is a country that has dedicated itself to protecting the environment,” Castro told Reuters. “We think it is contradictory to promote the environment and continue to pursue mining activity,” he said.<\/p>\n
The law will not affect the country’s biggest gold mining project Crucitas, owned by Canadian company Infinito Gold Ltd (IG.V: Quote<\/a>), which already has an environmental permit to operate although a court ruling has stalled the mine’s development.<\/p>\n Crucitas has an indicated resource of 1.2 million ounces of gold and was declared a project of national interest by Chinchilla’s predecessor Oscar Arias. The company says Crucitas will not cause environmental damage.<\/p>\n The law passed on Tuesday [9 Nov 2010] is not retroactive and can only be applied to future projects, said Claudio Monge, a legislator whose Citizen’s Action Party proposed the ban five years ago.<\/p>\n Some other Central American countries, like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have also put the breaks on new mining projects.<\/p>\n