Environmental study nixes mining project

 

The Minister of the Environment, Milciades Concepción, announced on Tuesday the rejection of the environmental impact study of the Greenfield Mining mining project known as the old Remance mine, in San Francisco, Veraguas.

Concepción based his decision on the “recommendations” made by the ministry’s technical evaluators.

According to the minister, all the evaluations of the study were carried out, according to the environmental norms of the country.

At the moment, the company proposing the project has not been notified, so, according to the established parameters, the Ministry of the Environment reported that once this aspect is finalized, an official resolution will be issued so that the decision is recorded.

The Remance mine is a concession made by the company Greenfield Resources, Inc. for the extraction of metallic minerals (gold and others) in an area of ​​2,400 hectares located in the villages of Remance, San Juan and San José, district of San Francisco, province of Veraguas. The mining concession sought to be reopened after failing in the 1990s.

However, NGOs and entities such as the National Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers warned that the concession represented a risk for the water intakes that were in the Santa María River and that supplied the districts of Santiago and San Francisco.