Costa Rica rules out ban for controversial gold mine

Laura Chinchilla, the Costa Rican president, has ruled out the possibility of reversing a decree allowing an open-pit gold mine to resume operations near the border with Nicaragua.

 

Chinchilla said that overturning the decree would mean paying $1.7 billion compensation to Industrias Infinito, the Costa Rican affiliate of Calgary-based Infinito Gold.

 

Chinchilla's predecessor, Oscar Arias, signed a decree in 2008 declaring the project of national interest.

 

Environmentalists say the area involved is part of the protected habitat of the great green macaw. They also say the project violates Costa Rica's constitutional rules on the environment.

 

Original source: Associated Press