Justice has overturned the permit that the Xunta awarded in 2022 to the only coltan mine in Europe, located in the extreme southeast of the province of Ourense and exploited by the Canadian company Strategic Minerals Europe. The Superior Court of Xustiza of Galicia (TSXG) has declared void the administrative resolution that allowed the open-air expansion of the A Penouta deposit, in the municipality of Viana do Bolo. The ruling concludes that the company did not carry out—and the autonomous Administration did not require it—a “timely and adequate” environmental evaluation of the damage to the Peña Trevinca natural space, a place protected by the Natura Network that is next to the exploitation. The presence of arsenic, mercury, cadmium and lead in surface waters exceeds the limits set by the regulations, the magistrates argue, and “affects to water intended for human consumption” and cracks in nearby homes have been detected.
The ruling known this Tuesday upholds the appeal filed by Ecoloxistas in Acción Galiza and can be appealed in cassation before the Supreme Court. The mine has been without activity for eight months, after a precautionary stoppage decreed by the Galician high court and which even caused a protest concentration of mining workers, mayors and residents of the area in front of its headquarters in A Coruña. According to what those responsible for Strategic Minerals Europe defended at the time, 129 families and auxiliary companies from the Viana do Bolo region live in the deposit.
The TSXG opinion now reveals that in the waters around the coltan exploitation, heavy metals have been found “in dangerous doses” that come “from leaks from existing waste deposits and ponds” due to the “lack of protective measures.” ”. The mine’s emissions and discharges, the ruling continues, “are reaching the Natura 2000 Network, both through discharge into river channels and through atmospheric emissions.” The magistrates refer to photographs provided to the case that show the dust reaching the vegetation and houses near the site. “Although the defendants say that they have carried out measurements that show a value below the established limit, these have not been systematic, hiding more than they reveal,” the judges reproach.
The ruling reveals that neither the company nor the Miño Sil Hydrographic Confederation, which depends on the central government, “have carried out new analyzes in which the parameters of arsenic, mercury, lead and cadmium, priority dangerous or hazardous substances, are verified, making their estimation difficult. in surface water bodies in the last year and a half.” These heavy metals, the magistrates warn, may be causing “a health problem for the populations” that obtain their supply from streams, springs and wells in the area, so “it is not advisable to allow the activity until the tests are carried out.” studies that evaluate” its presence. The TSXG cites a report from the University of A Coruña that confirms that the levels of these substances in several bodies of surface water near the mine “alarmingly exceed the established legal limits.” Cracks were also detected in houses located a kilometer and a half away caused by blasting in the mine, in which 8,000 kilos of explosives have been used.
The company has announced that it is considering appealing the ruling. It defends in a statement that its project in Penouta is “sustainable, socially, economically and environmentally” and that it will resume it “as soon as the appropriate legal conditions are met, in coordination with the Xunta de Galicia.”
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