Sala I annuls Crucitas mining concession, dismisses appeals / News Briefs / Current Edition / Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico Times

Sala I annuls Crucitas mining concession, dismisses appeals

Posted: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 - By Clayton R. Norman

Industrias Infinito says it will consider other legal options.

The Supreme Court’s Civil and Administrative Law Branch (Sala I) annulled Wednesday the mining concession issued to Industrias Infinito to operate an open-pit gold mine at Las Crucitas near the Nicaraguan border.

The court’s ruling is the latest in a long-running battle between opponents of the mine and Industrias Infinto, which is a subsidiary of the Canadian company Infinito Gold. The company was awarded a mining concession by then-president Óscar Arias in 2006, but lawsuits by environmental groups kept the project hobbled through November of 2010 when the Sala I struck down the project. Industrias Infinito appealed that decision.

Wednesday’s ruling, however, dismissed the mining company’s appeals. The court also asked Costa Rica’s public prosecutor to initiate proceedings to see if criminal investigations are warranted for individuals in the Costa Rican government involved in the mining saga, including former President Arias. The project was first proposed in 1993.

Additionally, the court annulled numerous environmental permits and declarations issued to Industrias Infinito by the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry between 2005 and 2008 including and executive decree, approved by Arias, declaring the project to be in the public interest in 2006.

On November 22, four environmental lawyers had presented a list of demands to the Sala I asking for action on many of the issues the court ruled on Wednesday.

Arias responded to the Sala I ruling Wednesday afternoon on his Facebook page.
“I reiterate that I am at the order of all Costa Ricans as I have always been my entire life,” Arias wrote. “I don’t know in depth the verdict from the Sala I on the Crucitas case. However, this is a theme that the public prosecutor’s office has been looking into for a long time. If, eventually it is decided I can help clear up their investigation, I will, as always, be happy to do so.”

In a statement, Industrias Infinito said: “Industrias Infinito learned through the press of the ruling issued today by the Supreme Court’s Civil and Administrative Law Branch. (Industrias Infinito) will proceed accordingly to analyze the ruling ... The company will evaluate available legal options.”

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Comments

Roy Corrales

Thursday December 01 2011

Poor sources? Noooo Wayyyy.
@ a cheley I think is better if you go and try something more professional than this: http://tsinfield.hubpages.com/hub/Why-Mining-Is-Important-To-The-Global-Economy

a cheley

Thursday December 01 2011

With a lot of people criticizing the mining sector, I thought it would be a good time to put forward a few of the positive effects that the industry has specifically on the global economy.

Because the truth is that without the mining industry, the world would basically stop work as we know it.

So let's look at why the mining industry is important, starting with mining jobs.

The Importance Of Mining Jobs
While mining jobs may not sound very exciting or even important, the truth is that the industry provides a lot of jobs to a range of people and industries - both blue collar and white collar workers.

There are literally millions of mining jobs, with over 700,000 solely in the United States alone, and an expectation of an additional 85,000 mine workers needed in Australia over the next 12 years.

As you can see, this is a significant portion of the global workforce and without the industry - there would be millions of workers looking for new jobs which would drastically effect the global economy.

The Importance Of Energy For The Economy
As well as jobs, imagine if mining stopped. Where would we get our power from?

We would be without lights, without heating and cooling and with the United Kingdom's biggest mining company claiming that carbon capture and sequestration technology can catch up to 90 percent of a coal plant's carbon emissions, this will eventually lead to a resurgence in demand for the fuel. (source).

Without energy and power, the business world would shut down and the global economy would be severely hit.

Minings Effect On The Economy
And lastly, there is the monetary value.

Mining is big business and a significant percentage of the global GPD is a result of the mining industry.

If the mining industry were to closer up, not only would the the effect of millions of unemployed miners have a drastic affect on the global economy, but the lass of revenue would hit hard also.

These are the facts that the environmentalists do not tackle, and the reason that now and for the near future, it is not viable for the governments to even consider a move to cleaner energy.

a cheley

Thursday December 01 2011

I see again that the anti Mining anti Oil anti Natural gas people of Costa Rica are at it again. These anti people are clearly against business and Jobs. What is next we ride horses again. If the enviromentalist don`t want mining they should only walk to work not use computers and never drive cars. You see radical anti business people Mining and oil creates all of these products. Computers chips and plastic and steel come from Mining and oil. This creates jobs and money for your country. I hope the goverment in Costa Rica is now going to be know as a NO goverment to business. Business is watching and we can leave just as fast as we came to Costa Rica. These people that are against mining are not friend of free market or capitalism. The Enviromentalist like a system call socialism. Wake up Costa Rican you could be the next Cuba if the enviromentalist get there way.

Stewart Hay

Thursday December 01 2011

Infinito have followed due process all through the permitting process. Several years ago they withdrew from seeking compensation via International arbitration as they were assured that their stalled permit application would receive fair and equitable treatment. I would think that they will now proceed to International Arbitration seeking compensation from the Government of Costa Rica (who support the project). The last amount mentioned (by the Costa Rican gov't is $1.7 Billion)

Roy Corrales

Wednesday November 30 2011

If is the desire of Infinito Gold LTD continue wasting money from their pockets and their stakeholders it is ok but I guess this will take them nowhere. The Costa Rican people got today an unforgettable victory against corruption and that make us feel proud with the higher desire and hope to continue fighting in opposition to white collard criminals. The opportunity to build a better country is possible and is now a step closer.