A leader of a local miners union has declared that the hope is that by 2016, the extraction operations for gold will be free of mercury, which is highly toxic for both humans and the environment.
In spite of this positive industry news, not all is so well-burnished
in Nicaragua. As the mining sector advances, tensions over natural
resources, the protection of the environment and the treatment
(including salaries) of miners also rise. Protests against mining
operations have increased over the past years across Latin America,
notably in Colombia and Peru. Nicaragua is no exception to this trend. In October,
environmentalists of the NGO Centro Humbolt, miners and members of the
general population protested in Nicaragua’s northern department of
Matagalpa against a mining project by B2Gold. Moreover, in December a
summit of anti-mining organizations from across Central America took
place in Managua. One expert from El Salvador
that attended the summit argued “the companies take advantage of
people’s poverty, they offer them jobs to stop being poor, who would not
accept a job? But they [the miners] are not informed of the real impact
of mining.” And even when miners are paid for their hard work, this
money is not usually put to good use. A leader of a mining union in
Bonanza has declared that, sadly, drinking and playing with coin slot machines are widespread vices around the Bonanza mine; bars and casinos tend to be where miners spend their hard-earned cash.
http://blogs.blouinnews.com/blouinbeatbusiness/2014/01/21/nicaragua-bets-on-gold-but-fears-social-backlash/
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