Petaquilla Gold mining activities tarnish the Donoso region
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 16:37
Panama’s careful and ongoing sustainable nature preservation and care has been tarnished by a recent report by the National Environmental Authority.
The recent study of factors around the gold mine and the activities in Donoso, have indicated severe damage to soil, vegetation, wildlife and water quality with local population and air quality still being affected but not as severely as the aforementioned. The study claims of adverse effects on the Molejones river, the San Juan and Turbe Rivers, as well as illegal logging operations in the Cerro La Tortuga area, destroying 54,2 hectares of indigenous forest.
The gold mine area that was investigated takes up 160 hectares of a forest reserve in Donoso. This area has suffered an 80% loss of forest cover and has nothing left of its original biodiversity measurements. Mentions of fines have been made to the tune of over US $900,000 which are applied to categories of loss of environmental issues, involvement in environmental resources and administrative areas.
The company accused of this mismanaged approach disputes the accuracy of this report and says that the findings are based upon outdated research and samples.
According to reports, prosecutors will be filing a criminal case against Petaquilla Gold Mining for crimes against the environment. Richard Fifer, Kenneth Morgan and Marco Tejeira, who are key individuals in the organization, have been summoned to testify as to the involvement of these environmental crimes.
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