Australian mining is poisoning El Salvador. It could soon send it broke, too

Australian mining is poisoning El Salvador. It could soon send it broke, too

OceanaGold, an Australian mining company, is trying to compel El Salvador to allow it to mine. If it wins a high-profile legal case, the results for the poor country will be dire

Damien Kingsbury
theguardian.com, Thursday 2 October 2014 23.08 EDT

The stream that leads into the San Sebastian River in the poor and tiny Central American country of El Salvador runs bright yellow, not for the gold in the mine nearby but for the chemical byproducts which leach into the water. That stream is emblematic in a fight between an Australian mining company and the El Salvador government, over whether there should be gold mining in the country.

If El Salvador wins this fight, it will preserve a bipartisan policy on mining, a country’s right to make policy generally, and to protect its main water supply in particular.

If it loses, then a foreign mining company will be able to ride roughshod over the country’s democratic process and prosecute a financial claim that could send its government broke.

The yellow stream which symbolises what can happen with gold mining is a consequence of “acid mine drainage”. This stream in question flows into the San Sebastian River, where it has killed all aquatic life, and then into the sea, where it causes further environmental damage.

Nearby San Sebastian village suffers a high rate of disease linked to arsenic poisoning as a result of this pollution. El Salvador’s government believes that, if the Australian mining company’s attempt to impose a new gold mine is successful, there could be even more devastating consequences for the country’s limited drinkable water supply.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/03/australian-mining-is-poisoning-el-salvador-it-could-soon-send-it-broke-too