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The National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) has just given a setback to the Soto Norte auro-Argentine mineral mineral exploration project of the Sociedad Minera de Santander SAS
The car 09674 of October 2 of the ANLA ordered the filing of the administrative process of evaluation of environmental license presented by society, a decision that according to the entity is the process of notification to the company and recognized third parties and against which an appeal for reconsideration proceeds.
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“As a result of the analysis carried out on the environmental impact study and on the information subsequently provided by the company, ANLA’s technical team established that it was not possible to issue a decision on the merits about the mining project, so it had to be archived, “said the entity.
The Santurbán páramo could be affected by the mining project. Photo: Guillermo Torres (Week).
Among the main technical considerations of ANLA to organize the project file are the definition of the area of influence, technical aspects of the tailings deposit (residues from mining activity), considerations on geotechnics, hydrology and hydrogeology, the risk management plan and the economic valuation.
“It should be noted that during the evaluation process of the Soto Norte mining project, The environmental authority requested additional information from Sociedad Minera de Santander, which, once submitted by the company, was analyzed by the ANLA technical team ”, argued the authority.
The evaluation process involved more than 30 professionals and experts in geology, hydrogeology, geotechnics, geochemistry and air quality, as well as the support of five professionals from the faculty of mines of the National University, based in Medellín.
Santurbán is one of the ecosystems most haunted by mining. Photo: Victor Galeano (Week).
“It is important to highlight that during this environmental process To date, 44,191 interveners have been recognized, a situation that has guaranteed citizen participation and access to information of the environmental licensing process to the communities surrounding the project, during the entire evaluation process ”, the entity noted.
The decision issued by ANLA was based on the technical arguments of the environmental impact study and the responses issued by the company to the requirements made by the environmental authority.
Respite for Santurbán
The Soto Norte underground mining project, near the Santurbán páramo and promoted by the Sociedad Minera de Santander (Minesa) since 2015, has had several detractors.
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In July of this year, the Mayor’s Office of Bucaramanga, the Metropolitan Aqueduct of Bucaramanga, the Metropolitan Area of Bucaramanga and the Mayor’s Office of California, presented the first report of observations to the environmental impact study, which showed that there is a connection between the waters affected by the mining project and the waters that arrive and supply the Bucaramanga aqueduct, through the Suratá river.
Carlos Sotomonte, advisor for environmental issues of the Mayor’s Office of Bucaramanga, said at the time that within the Findings were able to determine that Bucaramanga is not hydrologically disconnected from the Soto Norte project.
The execution of the project would impact the Santurbán páramo. Photo: Victor Galeano (Week).
“Minesa has been saying that there is a crystalline basement, that is, a rock that does not allow water to filter, that the project area is isolated and it does not affect the waters of the Bucaramanga Metropolitan Aqueduct. That’s a countdown”Sotomonte commented to a local newspaper.
The mayor of Bucaramanga, Juan Carlos Cárdenas, assured that due to the mining project there could be a water shortage for the region. “With this document we want to open that great discussion debate where we explain why we strongly reject and categorical the mining project.
The report also warned about the effects that the megaproject would bring to the biodiversity of the Santurbán páramo, an ecosystem that is home to 450 species of flora and 290 species of fauna. “The execution of the project would impact at least 60 types of flora and fauna species, as well as 10 water sources ”.
The study highlighted that 81 percent of the project’s environmental and socioeconomic impacts are negative.
