An environmental crime in Honduras

Mining Company Provokes Environmental Crime in Honduras

http://www.elheraldo.hn

20 March 2009

Honduras - An environmental crime took place in the western part of the country. The rupture of one of the tubes of the lixiviation pads caused the pollution of the Lara River, in the community San Andres Minas.

Executives of the company Minerales de Occidente (Minosa) stated that Friday at midnight a rock caused the accident; however, the inhabitants of the area are certain that machinery working in the area was the cause. As a result of the discharge of cyanide-laden material, hundreds of fish have died.

Employees of the mining company walked the riverbank collecting dead fish to diminish the impact and the negative feelings of the population. The mining company has confirmed that some 150 gallons of cyanide-laden solution poured into the river, but the local populace fears that the quantity was much greater. “There was a mountain of dead fish that employees were gathering. They tried to keep us from realizing what had happened. In the end, they couldn’t avoid it because they had to come to our houses to ask us to not take the cattle out to pasture because the water was contaminated,” said one of the locals.

At 9:00 a.m. the district attorney of Santa Rosa de Copan, Gustavo Garcia, arrived to inspect the site. Health technicians, county government, and the Environmental Unit of Santa Rosa de Copan, also participated in this operation. Two hours later, a helicopter arrived with representatives of Defomin and Natural Resources of Tegucigalpa, who addressed the problem with executives of the mining company.

The environmental district attorney, Aldo Santos, informed us that his office was notified of the problem and immediately sent personnel to make a report. They also collected samples of fish as evidence. Minosa assured us that it would immediately start a plan of crisis management that includes notifying national, regional, and community authorities.

The Archbishop of Santa Rosa de Copan, Monsignor Luis Alfonso Santos, denounced that the waters of the river Lara, which feeds into the river Higuito where the populace receives water for consumption, were polluted with cyanide by the mining company San Andres. The Archbishop reminded us that in 2006 he publicly denounced that the company had been committing these acts for several years. Santo affirmed that at night and when there are powerful storms the mining company dumps contaminants in the environment.