The Strategic Environmental Evaluation of mining in El Salvador
In 2010, the Salvadoran government contracted the services of the Spanish consulting firm the Tau Group , to perform a "Strategic Environmental Evaluation" of the issues surrounding the metallic mining industry in El Salvador. The report was to provide a basis for the Funes government to develop its own policy. To date the government's policy has consisted of a de facto ban on gold mining as the government refuses to issue new permits for the exploitation of gold resources in the country. That ban has led North American gold mining companies Pacific Rim and the Commerce Group to sue the country in international trade arbitrations. The evaluation report was apparently completed in September 2011, but the Funes government has delayed in making its results available. A copy of the evaluation report has now been made public by the Roundtable Against Mining (the "Mesa"). The Mesa delivered the report to El Salvador's National Assembly, arguing tha...