For A Few Dollars More

May 13th, 2006 at 18:07 Björn Hallberg

The unending search for precious metals in Central and South America continues to damage the ecosystem, hurt and displace people. While neoliberals can point to a real wage increase for the few that the mining operation in question employs in Honduras, just about everything else has gotten worse.

Honduras is the western hemisphere’s second poorest country and in rural areas such as the Siria Valley, two hours north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, people can work in the sun-scorched fields for as little as $2 (£1.07) a day. In 1998, when Glamis’s wholly owned Honduran subsidiary, Entre Mares, was awarded a lease to operate a 118,000-hectare site at the end of the valley, there was talk of jobs and benefits for the local community. Some people in the area say they are pleased for the 200 or so jobs the mine provides, which typically pay $3 to $4.50 a day.

Those with jobs at the mine certainly say they are glad of the work. Rafael Arteaga, 29, also from Palo Ralo, has worked at the site since the mine opened and says he has suffered no hardship or health problems. He believes some of the mine’s critics are jealous that they do not work there. “Economically we are better off,” he said.

But others say the mine has done more hard than good. Local environmental activists say the mine has created huge problems, has taken up precious water resources and caused cyanide pollution in local streams as a result of its heap leeching techniques, in which diluted cyanide is sprayed over huge piles of quarried rock to separate the microscopic flecks of gold. They believe such pollution may be the cause of skin problems and hair loss suffered by local people.

Current related news:

• Greenpeace activist crashes photo shoot of European and Latin American leaders, raising awareness about cellulose processing pollution of the Uruguay river.

Older related news:

• Venezuela seeks to eject the New Tribes Mission On fundamentalist Christian missions working, sometimes in cahoots with U.S. and European academics and agencies, to get hold of precious metals and increase their flock by any genocidal means necessary.
• Napoleon Chagnon Macho anthropology.
• Yanomami warn mining invasion is ‘out of control’ … demand “immediate measures to expel invading goldminers from their land.”
• Darwin’s Nightmare On the fishing industry that has sprung up around Lake Victoria and a dark side of HIV, prostitution, religion and ecological disaster.

Entry 539 filed under: Central America. This entry was posted 2 years, 6 months ago. RSS feed for comments on this post.