Everything Under The Sun: Getting The Facts To Keep Out The Mines

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Getting The Facts To Keep Out The Mines

Teach the children and they will be prepared to protect the environment.

Often, the wishes and needs of large corporations override those of local communities. Particularly in the case of underground resources, the needs of the local residents can be ignored in the race for profits.

For fourteen years, the people of Victoria del Portete, Tarqui. and Giron Molleturo, have risen to protect their water rights from the mining interests in Loma Larga and Rio Blanco Azuay provinces in Ecuador. For some time, the local residents had suspected that mining interests were placing their health and water supplies at risk. These communities depend on clean water for farming and milk production, along with the community water systems that provide for individual water needs.

Their fears were confirmed after Mining Engineer James Kuiper of Kuiper & Associates released a technical opinion on the two most advanced mining projects - the Loma Largo project of Canadian company INV Metals and the Rio Blanco project of the Chinese company Junefield. Mr. Kuiper, who conducted this oversight study, has more than thirty years of experience in large scale metal mining. His report highlights major environmental risks if either project is allowed to continue. These findings confirmed that metal mining is not compatible with this moors area and would harm the well-being of the local residents who depend on the waters draining from these Andean wetlands.

Mr. Kuiper notes that in the case of the Kimsacocha peoples living in Azuay Province, pumping millions of gallons of water each day just to dry out the mine and then to facilitate mining operations would significantly reduce the amount of available surface water and become an additional source of pollution. In addition, local rocks contain a significant quantity of arsenic. Conducting mining operations would leech out that arsenic, poisoning the residents and their dairy cattle downstream. The study also noted that the recovery from the effects of this pollution would last far longer than the involved mining operations.

Urging Chinese mining companies to be responsible.

Due to the adverse impacts on the environment and lax regulatory supervision, despite the positive economic impact, it was advised that these mining projects not be undertaken. Local environmental groups are hoping that this report by Mr. Kuiper is heeded by the government. No amount of economic and employment gains are worth the high-cost damage to the moors, to the local agricultural industry. to the cleanliness of water supplies, to the health of the local residents, and to the damage to this fragile environment.