After a community consultation was ordered as a requirement for the resumption of operations of the San Rafael Mine in Guatemala, the authorities invited nine institutions to participate in the first meeting of the pre-consultation roundtable.
Derived from a protective action filed by the environmental organization Calas, the Constitutional Court (CC) ordered in September 2018, to carry out through the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), a community consultation in the area of operations of the mine, in El Escobal, in the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores, department of Santa Rosa.
The mining companies' association estimates that in 2021 gold exports will be 13% higher than the value exported during 2020, explained in part by an increase in the volume extracted and the rise in the international price.
Gold exports in Nicaragua have been on the rise in recent years, mainly explained by increased activity in the sector, added to the upward trend that the price has followed in the international market.
Plantel Los Angeles, a mixed capital company operating in Chontales, Nicaragua, plans to invest $25 million in the construction of three new raw gold processing plants.
The company, which will invest in the new processing plants, caters exclusively to producers who are classified as artisanal miners. The announcement of these projects comes in the context of the increase in gold exports, since between January 2020 and the same month of 2021, Nicaraguan sales abroad went from $50.6 million to $60.8 million.
Following the ruling of the Constitutional Court, the Ministry of Energy and Mines decided to temporarily suspend the rights of the Fenix mining company, located in El Estor, department of Izabal.
Condor Gold, a British company that for 14 years has carried out exploration work in the province of León, in Nicaragua, announced that in 2021 it will invest in the construction of a metal processing plant.
According to company executives, the new industrial plant to be located in the municipality of Santa Rosa del Penon, will have the capacity to process 1,500 tons per day and the company is expected to start exporting by 2022.
After the Constitutional Court decided to keep the "Extracción Minera Fénix" project suspended, the private sector is asking the authorities to start the community consultation process as soon as possible, in an objective and clear way.
The operations of the mine located in the department of Izabal were suspended since July 2019 as a result of a legal appeal filed by a group of neighbors, who argued that the community consultation process for the operation of the mining project had not been exhausted.
The Constitutional Court decided to keep the "Extracción Minera Fénix" project, located in the department of Izabal, suspended and ordered the community consultation process to be carried out within 18 months.
Minera Panama filed a protection action, because since April 6 the Ministry of Health ordered the closure of the Donoso mining project, for reporting an outbreak of covid-19 among the company's staff.
The Ministry of Health (Minsal) suspended the activities of the mining project located in the province of Colon, after several workers became infected with covid-19 and two of them died from the virus.
Guatemala's Tax Administration Superintendent did not approve the decision of the bidding board in the process that ended with the award of the contract to supply 2.4 million metal plates for land vehicles.
Between January and November 2019, mining sector exports totaled $153 million, 16% less than what was reported in the same period in 2018.
Exports of mining activity recorded a value of $152.8 million, $27.6 million below what was observed in November 2018, as a result of the reduction of $17.4 million in shipments of zinc, related to the fall in price and volume exported, also, gold sales showed a decrease of $6.7 million, resulting from operational problems in some of the extracting companies, informed the Central Bank of Honduras.
Tönnjes Card International, S.A. was the winner of the tender to supply 2.4 million metal plates for land vehicles in Guatemala.
The bids submitted in this public tender were those of Tönnjes Card International, S.A. which totaled $9.86 million and GSI Guatemala, S.A. which was for $9.76 million.
The country is going through an economic crisis that has hit most sectors, however, gold seems to be on the sidelines of the bad times, as in the first nine months of the year exports totaled $397 million, 26% more than in the same period in 2019.
Between January and September 2018 and the same period in 2019, foreign sales of gold in the country increased by $82 million, going from $315 million to $397 million, according to figures from the Center for Export Procedures (Cetrex).
Inversiones Los Pinares, in charge of building an iron oxide mine in Tocoa, Honduras, plans to begin exporting to the U.S. market in late 2020 or early 2021.
Representatives of the company informed that currently the construction works of the plant are carried out where the iron oxide that will be extracted from the mine will be processed and also warehouses, administrative offices and other enclosures are built.
Although between January and September 2019, Nicaraguan exports grew 2% compared to the same period in 2018, businessmen say it is because of an atypical behavior of gold and fish sales, not a general improvement.
According to figures from the Center for Export Procedures (Cetrex), between January and September 2018 and the same period in 2019, sales of companies in Nicaragua abroad went from $2.075 million to $2.108 million.
The amendments to the law stipulate that prior to the request for exploitation, the mining authority shall require the municipal corporation to conduct a citizen consultation within a period not exceeding 90 days, and the decision adopted shall be binding for the granting of the concession.
If the result of the citizens' consultation is to oppose the exploitation, it cannot be carried out again after one year, prior to the installation of a social development table, the approved text specifies.
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