PLEASE SUPPORT THE STUDENTS, LECTURERS AND COMMUNITY OF TOLIMA SO THAT THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE CAJAMARCA MINE CAN BE RESEARCHED OBJECTIVELY AND INDEPENDENTLY.
Students and lecturers at the University of Tolima in Ibagué, Colombia, are voicing their strong opposition to the imminent signing of a contract with AngloGold Ashanti worth £500K/year to carry out the environmental monitoring of the Cajamarca La Colosa gold mine, currently in the exploration phase. AngloGold Ashanti, which was fined last year for not requesting all the necessary environmental permits for the exploration, is now stipulating that any research results must be kept confidential by the university, thereby jeopardizing the objectivity of the study. The projected site of the Cajamarca gold mine, in the central Colombian mountains, includes an area of forest reserve and 161 water sources. It is an important agricultural hub for the whole country. The results of the exploration so far indicate that the gold mine would be the largest in South America. Opencast mining exploitation, planned to start in three years’ time, would result in complete destruction of the ecosystem. The use of cyanide to treat the gold ore would inevitably contaminate water sources for a large area of the Tolima department. The Machín Volcano a few kilometres from Cajamarca presents a potential unimaginable ecological disaster for the region.
AngloGold Ashanti is a South African company with a listing on the London Stock Exchange.
See http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/urgent-actions/527-stop-anglogold-ashantis-unfair-contract.