Disturbing Unanswered Questions for Costa Rica Crucitas Gold Mine Project

The January 8th, 2009 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern central Costa Rica places the Crucitas gold mine project in a new light. Crucitas is located about 60 miles north of the earthquake’s epicenter so the Crucitas area was not impacted significantly. But could it have been? The Associated Press reported that the 82 mega-watt Cariblanco hydroelectric dam near San Jose was damaged in the earthquake and will be out of operation for one year. Bridges and highways were also destroyed. So it seems only reasonable to wonder how a tailings dam would hold up, especially considering how a release of a huge amount of toxic wastewater after an earthquake could grossly compound the environmental destruction wrought by it.

The Crucitas project outline calls for an open pit operation with a tailings pond for catching the water used in cynidation. Its tailings pond will have a dam crest 80 meters (260 ft.) high and 18 meters wide with some rock lining for erosion protection. Infomine.com’s project summary mentions no infrastructure measures for prevention of a tailings pond dam failure due to an earthquake, and possible aftershocks. The site’s project profile also provides no information about seismic activity in the region. However, the Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico de Costa Rica website states that the area near the proposed gold mine is potentially dangerous: “Historically, the central region of Costa Rica has been very active seismically”.

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Why does the project profile on infomine.com or any of the mine specifications
online not mention the issue of potential earthquake activity in the region? The International Commission on Dams in 1995 released a tailings dam safety brochure identifying a cause for concern:

“According to ICOLD, almost 200 tailings dams “have failed during earthquakes, releasing liquefied tailings that have led to serious damage and loss of life…Tailings dams are very susceptible to earthquake damage.”

If the Crucitas tailings pod dam failed and the wastewater was released what impact would it have on the local environment and local tourism industry? In 1995 such a scenario did occur, in the Guyana Omai gold mine when a 4 million cubic meter spillage of cyanide-laced wastewater contaminated the Omai and Essequibo rivers. Immediately afterwards, the Guyana parliament passed a resolution stating:

“The area up to 50 miles down river would be regarded as an environmental disaster zone.”

In the case of the Omai dam failure, the cause was not a natural earthquake or tremors, but it has been suggested that the dam was being shaken by manmade blasting nearby in the pit where the ore was being dug up, in addition to overfilling, and seasonal rainfall. (Photo of tailings dam failure.) The Crucitas project is located in one of the rainiest areas of Costa Rica where flooding is a possibility, along with earthquakes.

Government officials in neighboring Nicaragua are concerned about potential contamination of their territory and have issued official letters as reported by the Latin American Herald Tribune:

“Because of the mine’s proximity to the border with Nicaragua, the government in Managua has already sent two protest notes demanding that the project be halted.”

(A Netherlands-based organization has published a list of major tailings dam failures.)

No online search has revealed any information about specific safety precautions or measures to deal with such inevitable natural hazards for the Crucitas gold mine project. For example the website MetalNews.com has an article about the project, but it fails to include a single piece of information about the potential impact of natural disasters. It also seems to present a romantic view of the mine location in a comment attributed to the CEO of the mining company conducting the project: Morgan explained that the Crucitas deposit is actually situated along the gold-producing Rim of Fire.” The phrase rim of fire (or ring), however, is a reference to the frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of the area; not to gold production.

Image Credit:jaguardelplatanar

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