Some news on Argentina---
Mendoza outlook remains uncertain for miners - Argentina
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
(BNamericas.com) - The future for miners remains uncertain in Argentina's Mendoza province even after legislation aimed at suspending the activity in the area failed to win approval from local deputies, an Argentine mining expert told BNamericas.
"In the end, the bill was rejected and passed on to a commission which is a way of boxing it in, delaying it," said Patricio Jones, president of Deprominsa, the local subsidiary of Canada's Tenke Mining (TSX: TNK).
"It was taken as the first small victory on the part of mining companies in Mendoza but it is something very relative," added Jones.
A number of the provincial parliament's senators and deputies have taken an anti-mining line due to misplaced views that the activity is not compatible with environmental safety or simply to attract votes, according to Jones.
Meanwhile, representatives of Mendoza's government promoted local mining investment at Canada's association of prospectors and developers (PDAC) conference in Toronto in 2005 but this has been the administration's only effort to encourage mining, he said. Following PDAC 2005, Tenke selected three important mining projects - Papagallos, Paramillos and Elisa - to develop in Mendoza province, all of which are at a standstill, continued Jones.
At Papagallos, Mendoza's parliament extended a national park boundary to cover the mining concessions, and at Paramillos the courts halted exploration earlier this year following extensive lobbying by a competing local business.
At Elisa, Tenke is still waiting for exploration permits after submitting the application one and half years ago, said Jones.
"We had a budget of US$600,000 [for Elisa] and planned to start drilling now in the Argentine summer when the snow melts but we can't because we don't yet have a permit," he said.
OTHER PROJECTS
Two emblematic mining projects in Mendoza are stirring up an already complicated scenario for the industry: the Sierra Pintada uranium mine, owned by Argentina's national atomic energy commission (CNEA), and British resource giant Rio Tinto's Potasio Río Colorado potash project.
At Sierra Pintada, a public meeting on November 2 to discuss reopening the mine and the clean-up of the former operation's tailings was cancelled after a legal challenge on procedural grounds.
"This goes against the federal government's recent announcement that it intends to promote atomic energy given the energy deficit that is forecast in Argentina," said Jones.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto has announced plans to present an environmental impact assessment this year for Río Colorado, where it aims to start production in 2009.
Jones said a company the size of Rio Tinto would likely hold enough influence to get a fair hearing for Río Colorado but that environmental opposition is inevitable given the project would leave salt that does not contain potassium on the surface.
"There is a lot of ignorance among the public but also a lot of bad faith among environmentalists that makes frank and constructive dialog very difficult," said Jones.
The Deprominsa president said the situation in Mendoza has led the company to suspend US$3mn of planned investment this year in the province and to look elsewhere on the continent for projects.
"We have decided to explore the rest of South America and we have some concrete projects in some countries," he concluded without providing further details....
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