From Mining.com, December 10:
El Salvador, which became the first country in the world to ban metals mining, could be losing out economy-changing wealth due to its massive unearthed gold deposits, says its President Nayib Bukele.
In a speech earlier this week, Bukele said that the Central American nation is sitting on unmined gold worth as much as $3 trillion, which is roughly over 8,800% of its current GDP. “We’ve also found gallium, tantalum, tin and many other materials needed for the 4th and 5th industrial revolution,” Bukele said
This lost value, Bukele said, could be used to help clean up El Salvador’s rivers. According to government data, about 95% of the rivers in El Salvador are contaminated, and Bukele argues that the focus should be on cleaning up those rivers, instead of preventing further pollution by banning mineral extraction.
His predecessor, former left-wing rebel Salvador Sanchez Ceren, imposed the mining ban in 2017 following pressure from rural communities who had expressed concerns about harmful chemicals like cyanide and mercury used in mining practices.
Now, Bukele, the first President not elected as a candidate of one of El Salvador’s two major political parties since 1989, has set out to revoke this ban. Through his official X account, he has been repeatedly pointing to the massive economic benefits of the nation’s natural resources....
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The environmentalists and NGOs are in an uproar. Agence France-Presse via France24 has some of the details:
President's push to scrap gold mining ban causes outcry in El Salvador
