Chile’s government has rejected a controversial $2.5 billion iron and copper mining project proposed in an area important to biodiversity and marine life.
The Dominga project, 70 km north of the town of La Serena, would see an open-pit mine, processing and desalination plants, and a large port installed just 30 km from the famous Humboldt Penguin Sanctuary.
“Unanimously, the ministerial commission decided to accept the 12 objections raised, [and] as such, it remains unfavorably impressed by the mine and port project in Dominga,” Chile’s Environment Minister Maisa Rojas announced on Wednesday.
The committee found that the plan included insufficient efforts to mitigate impacts on nearby marine and wildlife sanctuaries, which are home to bottlenose dolphins, several species of whales and the Humboldt penguin.
From its inception, the Dominga project has been a hotbed of environmental and political issues.
It failed an environmental assessment in 2017, leading to the resignation of three ministers in former President Michelle Bachelet’s government.
In 2021, the Pandora Papers leak revealed that the family of then-president Sebastian Piñera and his associates were 56% majority shareholders in the Dominga project.
It also revealed evidence suggesting irregularities in a 2010 deal in which the family of billionaire businessman Pinera sold its stake in the project to a close friend and business partner, Carlos Alberto Delano.
The leak suggests that a third installment of the payment contained a clause requiring the government not to strengthen environmental protections in the proposed mine area – although Pinera’s government eventually did so anyway.
In November 2021, Piñera narrowly survived a Senate impeachment vote sparked by the allegations.
Pinera, whose fortune is estimated at $2.5 billion by Forbes magazine, has denied the allegations and said no irregularities were found in the deal.
On Wednesday, protesters for and against the project braved the heat in Santiago, Chile’s capital, to demonstrate outside the environment ministry with banners and placards.
The announcement of the decision – fulfilling a campaign promise made by Piñera’s successor, Gabriel Borich – was met with cheers.
But the mayor of a town near the project’s proposed site said: “When are we going to talk about people and stop talking about little fish and birds?”
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