Soto Norte - copper again same story different angle ... might we start to see cracks in Petro?
Seems like minister of enviro might be ok with mining in the area. glta
Petro detored from mining megaproject in Santander, but government office seeks to move forward with it
At the height of the climate in Dubai, the president said his position in front of the mining project, Soto Norte, is the same one he had in the campaign and that there will be no mining on the Santurban moor
Minesa's mining project, Soto Norte, appears to be leading the national government to contradict itself and divide.
Although President Gustavo Petro and his Minister of the Environment, Susana Muhamad, sought to distance themselves from Minesa at the COP 28 climate summit in Dubai, the Energy Mining Planning Unit (a public entity) included Soto Norte as one of the five key projects for the development of copper in Colombia and is working on a document where it assures that the project is outside the Santurbn moor.
"The position of the Government With regard to Santurbn it is the same as before the election campaign, during the election campaign and now as an elected government and that is that there will be said the president a few weeks ago. Outside COP 28.
Hours earlier, the Minister of the Environment starred in a controversy and ended up cancelling Minesa's participation in a COP panel organized by Colombia. According to the official "investment in gold mining in Santurbn is not the priority.
Despite these statements, UPME published a preliminary document
Outside the area of biotic influence of the Soto Norte Project, is the Santurbn-Berlin area of the mooring." However, the Soto Norte project is not intercepted with areas excluded from mining activity, the document says.
According to the data that UPME collected with different government entities there is a clear spatial separation between extractive activity and areas called as nature reserves Pramo Regional National Park of Santurbn and Sisavita Regional National Park (see image).
Petro detored from mining megaproject in Santander, but government office seeks to advance it
Copper is one of the strategic minerals for Colombia amid the goal of accelerating the energy transition. The electrification of the economy requires tons of key and in the country there is only one mine that produces El Roble. The other copper projects in Colombia have had all sorts of problems and have not begun to produce. The Soto Norte mining title allows both gold and copper to be exploited, but the company still has no environmental license to start operations.
Among the recommendations of the UPME to the Government on copper is to recognize that in many of the mayors and entities of the municipalities where the five large ones are there is no technical, financial and administrative capacity to accompany the projects or manage the demands of those who consider themselves affected by them because they are of the sixth category.
In addition, the Government is invited to "promote training in higher education, associated with the mining and extraction industry, is essential in the territories where projects of national interest could be carried out for the exploitation of copper and its concentrates, such as: Quebradona, Soto Norte, San Matas and Mocoa, the entity said.
The delimitation of the Santurbn moor has advanced, but it is not completely finished. For example, in the municipality of California (epicentro de Soto Norte) there is already an agreement with the community on which line the moor starts. However, 20 municipalities are still missing to close the agreement before the delimitation is official.