Costa Rica announced that the international litigation filed by the Canadian mining company Infinito Gold has ended after Costa Rican Justices closed the gold deposit in 2010 due to environmental impact. “The Government of the republic is pleased to inform the country that Costa Rica has triumphed in the award filed by Infinito Gold for the amount of 394.8 million US dollars plus interest,” the Presidency stated in a press release.
The company resorted to international arbitration before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank organization based in Washington, requesting Costa Rica to pay nearly 400 million dollars as compensation after the closure of the mining project.
“The arbitration Tribunal concluded that it was inappropriate to award damages in favor of the company Infinito Gold Ltd,” the text indicated. The Costa Rican Congress prohibited open-pit mining in 2010, shortly after the annulment of Infinito Gold’s contract in Crucitas, about 200 km north of San José, right on the border with Nicaragua.
“Since that date, illegal miners, mostly of Nicaraguan nationality, have been engaged in gold extraction in the area, without having the corresponding environmental permits,” the Presidency highlighted.
Illegal miners extract metals from that deposit and process them with mercury or cyanide, chemicals that are used to make products such as paper, fabrics and plastics, and are used as pesticides. According to environmental organizations, they have caused serious damage to the soil and rivers in the area.
The Presidency said that, starting this Tuesday, a “special police operation” will be carried out in the area, which is currently guarded by the Police due to “illegal looting, confrontations and gold sales that were reported.”
Despite the operations and seizures of materials, the “coligalleros,” as these illegal miners are known in Costa Rica, continue to extract gold from the deposit.
