Honduras Stops Open-Pit Mining

Honduran President Xiomara Castro

The governmenT of freshly elecTed honduran President Xiomara Castro has declared open-pit mining to be hazardous to the environment and people and has announced that permits for such operations will be canceled.

The announcement, made by the Marxist leader, was greeted with delight by human rights activists and environmentalists but also created uncertainty in the business. According to a statement from the Ministry of Mining and the Environment, "all Honduran land has been proclaimed free of open-pit mining."

"Extractive exploitation permits have been revoked because they... endanger natural resources and public health, and impede reach to water as a human right," the statement continued.

The statement did not say if this applied to new or existing open-pit or surface mining permits. When Castro took office on January 27, she stated that one of her first priorities would be to abolish open-pit mining, as well as to combat crime, poverty, and corruption, which she claimed were rampant under her predecessor, Juan Orlando Hernandez.

The ministry also promised to act "quickly" to protect regions of "high ecological significance" and ensure that they benefit the general public. The prohibition was supported by the Honduran office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which said it was based on "the principle of climate justice and the conservation of natural resources, public health, and access to water as a human right."

The declaration, however, was condemned by Santos Gabino Carvajal of the National Association of Miners as "ambiguous" and perhaps in breach of mining legislation.He added the measure will "destroy the potential of progress" since it "prohibits even the mining of stone and sand for construction." The group intends to approach the government for talks.