El Morro: new action and enterprise application project postponed until 2014
The Copiapo’s Court of Appeals decided to halt indigenous consultation that the SEA had been instructed to perform in late March
Apparently it will not be possible for El Morro project owners resume the development of this gold huge investment in September this year, as expected.
The combined action of a new resource protection and the application of the company to terminate the Underwriting Process threaten to postpone until next year the obtaining environmental permits for this initiative, linked to the Canadian Companies Goldcorp and New Gold, whose construction would require an amount of U.S. $ 4,000 million.
Last Friday, the Department of Environmental Assessment (SEA) was notified of an injunction that the Copiapó Court of Appeals issued to paralyze the resolution that the state agency in mid-March issued instructing the company carrying out the process of indigenous consultation to comply with Supreme Court ruling that overturned a year ago environmental clearance of El Morro, precisely because we did not perform that procedure.
This, in the context of an application for protection of the Diaguita Agricultural Community Huascoaltinos same that in 2012 failed to halt the project, presented to challenge the instruction mentioned SEA, because they feel that it does not meet international standards . They add that they do not have all the information necessary to rule on the initiative.
Flesh this dialogue is regulated requirement for the company to advance in the environmental assessment process.
Suspension
Beyond this legal issue, where the company is not directly involved,there is another element that strikes with more force the postponement of El Morro until 2014: the firm itself requested the Environmental Assessment SEA to suspend the evaluation until next December 22nd.
“The company continues to work to comply with the provisions of the Supreme Court in its decision of April 2012 and to supplement its EIS, we confirm our commitment to carry out the project in accordance with current legislation,” said the company.
Indeed, the firm requires this additional time to correct some elements of the project and answer the set of questions and clarifications that public services submitted in June 2012.
From the above, for the El Morro to be voted, the consultation should be obtained and paid evaluators should declare themselves satisfied with this fifth addendum, which, in light of the new deadlines,would happen by 2014.
Source: Diario Financiero
