The President of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, proposed on Tuesday to exploit a gold deposit in the north of the country after winning a lawsuit against the Canadian mining company Infinito Gold, the former concessionaire, despite the ban on open-pit mining.
“The main message is (that) there’s a lot of money there. It’s money for all of us. It has to be processed; it’s not a cheap process and requires a lot of investment. We need to find the best way for the concession,” Chaves said in a video provided to the press by the Presidency.
The president emphasized that the government must decide on the Crucitas gold deposit, about 200 km north of San José, near the Nicaraguan border, after winning the international litigation against Infinito Gold.
The company had taken the case to international arbitration at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank organization based in Washington, seeking nearly $400 million in compensation after the mining project was shut down in 2010 due to its environmental impact.
After canceling the contract, the Costa Rican Congress banned open-pit mining that same year. After winning the lawsuit, Chaves proposed finding a way to exploit this deposit, whether underground or open-pit, although the latter would “require a change in the law,” the president said.
Since the project’s cancellation in 2010, illegal miners, known as “coligalleros” and mostly Nicaraguans who cross the border illegally, have been extracting gold from the deposit. They use cyanide and mercury to process the gold.
According to environmental organizations, this activity has caused severe damage to the soil and rivers in the area. Chaves recently stated that 4.2 tons of chemicals intended for illegal gold extraction in Crucitas were seized.
Despite the area being guarded by the police, illegal gold extraction continues, prompting the government to send a larger contingent of officers after the favorable international ruling.
“The environmental damage has been enormous, without a doubt,” Chaves said.
