El Salvador’s Congress agrees to end the ban on mineral mining

San Salvador, El Salvador — The Salvadoran Congress on Monday approved a law that would lift a seven-year-old ban on mineral mining in the country.

The law, proposed by President Nayib Bukele and passed by 57 votes to 3, would allow mining everywhere except nature reserves and sensitive watersheds. It is expected that the law will be passed with his approval.

The law prohibits the use of toxic mercury in gold mining, and requires private companies to enter into some type of joint venture with the government to open mines.

Environmentalists and the Roman Catholic Church oppose the resumption of mining, citing potential damage to ecosystems, but Bukele called the ban “ridiculous” earlier this year.

Archbishop José Luis Escobar unfortunately I recently asked the president not to repeal the embargo, Which has been in place since 2017.

“It will hurt this country forever,” Msgr. Escobar said sadly in a sermon.

This view was also expressed by about 100 civic and environmental activists who protested near Congress.

“They are giving us a gift, on December 23, 2024, of polluting our waters and our land,” said Adalberto Blanco of the Permanent Roundtable on Risk Management.

A poll conducted by Universidad Central America José Simeon Cañas showed that a majority of Salvadorans feel that mining is not suitable for their country.

In November, the popular Bukele proposed gold mining. He wrote on the social platform The country’s gold reserves were estimated at $3 trillion.

At this stage, excavations revealed deposits of gold and silver, but the minerals were not mined on a large scale. It is unclear the size of the country’s gold reserves.

Bukele’s party controls El Salvador’s Congress by a large margin, and his political opposition has been decimated.