Environmental Justice

Ban mining with cyanide in Costa Rica

30 June 2010

The project was given the go ahead during the administration of President Oscar Arias despite the threat to the rich biodiversity in the San Juan river basin. This is home to endangered species of trees and the great green macaw.

Please join us in calling on President Chinchilla repeal the decree that cited the open pit mine to be in the national interest.

Below is a letter we have drafted to the President.

You can send it directly to her by copying it and pasting it into the comments box of the online form on the President's website.

Send your message from here.

(Don't forget to add your name to the bottom)

Dear Mrs President,

I am writing with regard to the Crucitas open pit gold mine in Costa Rica.

In the last parliament President Arias Sanchez issued a decree (34 801-MINAET) declaring the Crucitas gold mining project to be in the national interest. We are calling on you to repeal this disastrous decree. 

It is well known that open-pit gold mining with cyanide leaching, the method that Crucitas is using, is one of the most destructive industrial practices there is. It is therefore not accidental that in May of this year the European Parliament issued a resolution on the general prohibition of the use of technologies based on cyanide mining.

The resolution calls on member states to ban cyanide mining in their countries and cease supporting, directly or indirectly, any mining project that employs technologies based on cyanide mining in third countries.

Friends of the Earth Costa Rica / Coecoceiba and I share your commitment to reach an alternative development model for Costa Rica. We also share the concerns, expressed in your inaugural speech, about the fracture of the alliance between man and nature and the need to work for a greener and cleaner planet. They, and I, agree with you in your quest for an economic model that is "more innovative and intelligent." Surely this is a model that has no place for open-pit mining with cyanide.

Coecoceiba have also seen with great satisfaction that your very first decree as President declares a national moratorium for an indefinite period on the activity of gold metal mining in the national territory, understood as the exploration, exploitation, and the benefit of materials extracted using cyanide or mercury.

I believe this is a visionary and courageous act, which must be supplemented by a ban expressed through a law on such activity and by not authorising the continuation of the Crucitas mining project.

Costa Rica is internationally known for its commitment to the environment and its regional leadership in ensuring protection of the human right to a healthy environment. I therefore urge you to live up to your reputation and reverse this past wrong by putting a stop to the Crucitas gold mining project.

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,