Seven years ago, El Salvador made global headlines as the first country in the world to ban all metal mining. The decision was hailed as a victory for environmental protection, celebrated by local communities, environmentalists and even the Catholic Church.
That was then.
President Nayib Bukele is now calling for a reversal of the landmark ban, claiming that beneath the country’s fertile soil lies an untapped fortune. According to Bukele, the small Central American nation sits atop an estimated $3 trillion in unmined gold reserves—a potential jackpot that could radically transform El Salvador’s financial future.
“We potentially have the largest gold deposits per square kilometer in the world,” Bukele declared on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). He claimed that extracting just 4 percent of the country’s gold deposits could generate approximately $131 billion, a sum equivalent to 380 percent of El Salvador’s current GDP.
“God placed a gigantic treasure underneath our feet,” Bukele wrote, calling the 2017 mining ban “absurd.”
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele (left) said his country has a potential $3 trillion in unmined gold reserves, highlighting what he describes as a ‘gigantic treasure’ that could redefine the nation’s economic future.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele (left) said his country has a potential $3 trillion in unmined gold reserves, highlighting what he describes as a ‘gigantic treasure’ that could redefine the nation’s economic future.
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It wasn’t always this way. When Bukele ran for president in 2019, he supported the mining ban, which had been passed unanimously by El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly in a 70-0 vote. The ban had broad support and was seen as essential to protecting the country’s vulnerable water resources from contamination caused by mining operations.
But his views have since shifted. Since taking office in 2019, Bukele has become one of the ban’s most vocal critics, pushing for what he calls “modern and sustainable” mining that, he claims, will safeguard the environment while unlocking the nation’s hidden wealth.
Bukele, who previously made waves by adopting Bitcoin as legal tender and is simultaneously overseeing one of the biggest organized crime crackdowns in the world, now sees mining as a potential economic miracle. He argues that responsible resource exploitation could dramatically transform the nation’s economic prospects.
This week, Bukele doubled down on his proposal, and his critics were quick to respond. They fear that reopening mining could lead to the contamination of water sources, especially given the amount of freshwater needed for mining operations and the risks posed by heavy metals used in the process.
“The president claims that ‘responsible mining’ can be done, but there is no evidence to support this claim,” Pedro Cabezas, a member of the Central American Alliance against Mining (ACAFREMIN), told Newsweek. “There are no examples of ‘responsible mining’ that haven’t caused serious impacts. The effects in El Salvador would be terrible,” he warned.
For Bukele, however, the push to reopen mining is part of a broader ambition to overhaul El Salvador’s economy. His administration is already known for what he calls a “security miracle,” which has seen the mass incarceration of more than 80,000 Salvadorans accused of gang affiliation since March 2022. Now, he aims to replicate that same top-down approach to the Salvadoran economy.
President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele gestures during his speech at the closing ceremony of the Latin Bitcoin conference (LaBitConf) at Mizata Beach, El Salvador, on Nov. 20, 2021.
President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele gestures during his speech at the closing ceremony of the Latin Bitcoin conference (LaBitConf) at Mizata Beach, El Salvador, on Nov. 20, 2021.
MARVIN RECINOS/AFP via Getty Images
As one of the most popular leaders in the world, Bukele was reelected earlier this year with overwhelming support. His party holds a commanding majority in El Salvador’s Congress and with his opponents politically weakened, there’s little standing in the way of his mining agenda.
“When Bukele won a congressional supermajority that allowed him to bypass many democratic checks and balances, a major concern was that he would eventually start making unpopular decisions, and those opposing them would have little or no recourse,” Adam Isacson, director of the Washington Office on Latin America’s (WOLA) Defense Oversight program, told Newsweek.
“A rush back into gold mining, at the expense of communities living atop the gold deposits, would be a prime example of that,” he added.
Signs of a possible resumption of mining activity first emerged in October 2022 with the creation of the General Directorate of Energy, Hydrocarbons, and Mines within the Salvadoran government. Environmental concerns deepened when El Salvador joined the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development (IGF), a global association of countries addressing mining issues.
For a nation that was the first to ban all metallic mining operations, joining such a forum struck many as an unusual move that preceded a national pivot on the issue.
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Publish date : 2024-12-10 10:44:00
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