Panama mining exploitation under attack

(newsroompanama.com) - La Prensa -  The support the current administration has given open-pit copper and gold mining, has highlighted the institutional weakness to control an activity considered as the most polluting on the planet.

The latest example is the direct recruitment made by the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) to the company Austral Risk Consulting, SA to assess the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the company Minera Panama, which aims to extract copper in Coclesito , Colon province.

The cost of the of the EIA evaluation is $ 802 500 500 and will be assumed by Minera Panama SA, which could become a problem of conflict of interest and "leave doubt about the rigor of the analysis" say environmental groups like the National Association for the Conservation of Nature (ANCON) or the Environmental Advocacy Center (CIAM).

According to the timetable of the evaluation process, today (Decmeber 3) is the deadline to submit comments to the EIA "which ha nearly 15 thousand pages," he protested Tania Arosemena of CIAM.

In 2007, major environmental organizations petitioned the then president, Martin Torrijos, for a moratorium on open pit mining, to determine whether the country has the technical and environmental conditions for the development of this sector. No answer.
Minera will invest about $4 .32 billion, a figure only matched with the investment made in expanding the Panama Canal.

The mining project has within its three open pits - deep cuts in Botija, Hill and Valle Grande. The cuts will be 400 meters deep and a mile wide. The depth can be compared with the 415 meter hight of the twin towers in New York, United States, demolished in 2001.

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Original Source: Newsroompanama.

Date Retrieved: December 3, 2010.