Mining in El Salvador quick overview

The Destructive Legacy of Mining At the end of the 1990’s, a new mining boom caused by rising gold prices brought Canadian, U. S. , British, and Australian mining companies to Central America. In El Salvador, the current mining law was passed in 1995, and... More

The Destructive Legacy of Mining At the end of the 1990’s, a new mining boom caused by rising gold prices brought Canadian, U. S. , British, and Australian mining companies to Central America. In El Salvador, the current mining law was passed in 1995, and this law facilitated the arrival of Pacific Rim, Martinique Minerals, and Minerals Morazán, among other mining companies, between 1998 and 2003. There were a total of 29 exploration licenses granted by the Ministry of Economy during this time. The New Gold Rush Communities say “NO” to mining Metal mining in northeastern Salvadoran existed for almost a century (1880-1970) and in the department of Cabañas during the 1950s. This activity, although it represented 15% of exports in 1903 and 16% in 1913, was never a real contribution to the development of El Salvador. What it did cause – even though it wasn’t intensive industrial extraction – was environmental damage that remains to this day, with the polluted San Sebastian River pollu Less