The government has denied a Canadian company a license.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Costa Rican authorities in the mining sector have declined the request to reopen the Bellavista gold mine by the Canadian company B2 Gold, arguing that the act would be contrary to the national moratorium on mining.
The firm aims to revive gold mining in the area, which was suspended in 2007 after a landslide polluted the surrounding waters, reports Nacion.com.
Uriel Juarez, national secretary for environment, explained that B2 Gold presented a preliminary environmental assessment, but this has not even been looked at because "it cannot legally procede" For his part, Donald Brown, Bellavista mine manager and representative of Processed Metals M. R. W., B2 Gold’s Costa Rican partner, what is happening is that they are not "understanding".
Brown believes that this project does not come under the moratorium declared by Decree 36 019-Minaet, because they are reviving an old plan. "The award is still valid and the resolution they sent us talks about respect for the moratorium. This is for new projects and we are not presenting a new project," he said.
The Bellavista mining company has gone to the Administrative Court seeking permission to reactivate gold mining activities in Puntarenas.
According to the general manager of Metales Procesados MRW S.A., Donald Brown, the suit against the Costa Rican government was filed last May but the information had not been released until now.
Canadian corporation B2Gold invested $54 million to reopen the gold mine located in the province of Chontales.
B2Gold plans to extract 90.000 gold ounces a year, generating exports for approximately $85 million.
Emilio Rappaccioli, Energy Minister, commented that the new mine will double the country’s mining production, making gold the second or third most important export product.
Canadian mining corporation Condor Resources has been granted a 25 year exploration and mining concession in Nicaragua.
The 22.5 kilometer area is located in La Libertad – Santo Domingo, and adds to Condor’s 5 existing concessions in the country.
From Proactiveinvestors.com: “According to Condor, the Cerro Quiroz vein was discovered in 2003 by Canadian explorer Chesapeake Gold Corp (TSX-V: CKG) which defined a north-south trending quartz vein grading up to 17.8 grams per tonne gold over more than 1500 metres strike length”.
×
ok
7567Government Procurement Opportunities in the region