A few 10 kilometers from Portugal and at the beginning of the huge reservoir of the Andévalo (Huelva), the Junta de Andalucía plans to authorize an underground mine to extract zinc, lead, copper, gold and silver. However, the exploration prior to the opening of tunnels, underway since 2022, is controversial and has achieved what almost no mining project before in the region: divide the Andalusian government into two. On the one hand, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines gave the other, the Ministry of Sustainability and that of Agriculture have highlighted the risks involved in exploitation, since it would affect protected areas of the Natura 2000 Net of agricultural irrigation, given its extreme closeness to the Andévalo -the third reservoir of the region and the largest in Huelva, with 634 cubic hectometers -, of which hundreds of thousands of Huelva drink and with which many crops are irrigated.
On September 18, the Board declared the Iberian Belt West (IBW) project of the filial company of a Canadian mining multinational, “Business Investment of Strategic Interest” for Andalusia, through its project accelerating unit, created to favor large investments , and eliminate bureaucracy and waiting times, which are reduced by half.
But given so much speed, the Ministry of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy, warned that the project would affect areas protected by its biodiversity and requested that its statement as a project of strategic interest would be paralyzed. Next, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, competent in water, added another more serious notice if it fits: “The location of the mine in the tail of the Andévalo reservoir involves a risk that would be convenient not to assume , since it affects the consumption water of most of the coast and capital of the province. ”
Finally, despite the repairs of both councils, the Andalusian Government gave the green light and declared it of strategic interest for “administrative silence”, according to the resolution of last September of the Official Gazette of the Board. To questions from this newspaper, the Ministry of Economy, Finance and European Funds has not clarified why its Delegate Commission for Economic Affairs agreed on May 31 to “unfavorably” the project “unfavorably”, but finally ignored the repairs of sustainability and agriculture to promote The mining project for administrative silence.
For 17 years and from 2027 if the planned deadlines are fulfilled, of the underground galleries attached to the Guadiana River that separates Spain and Portugal 350 employees will extract the minerals – together with another thousand indirect jobs – and an investment of 350 million. From the exploitation together with the municipalities of Paymogo and Puebla de Guzmán, the mineral will be carried in trucks with containers to the navigable part of the river, where they will be mounted in barges that will follow the course to the mouth and from there the containers will go in trains until The port of Sines (Portugal), and then continue by boat until its final destination in Rotterdam (Holland).
After being declared strategic, the project – with three mineral deposits, the Romanera, the Infanta and the Cure separated by eight kilometers – is pending to obtain unified environmental authorization, necessary for the technicians of the Board to certify that it does not affect the Special conservation zone (ZEC, with European protection range) of the West Andévalo, with 53,000 hectares. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Environment emphasizes that the previous negative report “does not prejudge or conditions the result” of the environmental authorization processed now.
The technicians evaluate the environmental conditions of the project, “to avoid or reduce waste production, atmosphere emissions, water and soil, as well as repercussions on wildlife and wild flora and natural habitats.” In this area inhabit the Royal Eagle, the Black Stork and vulture – both endangered species – or the Perdicera eagle. “The Western Zec Andévalo is of great interest in the processes of ecological connectivity between Red Natura 2000 spaces,” says its management plan as a protected space, developed in 2019.
The general director of Emerita Spain, Juan Luis del Pozo, considers that the initial fights of the Ministry of Environment are unfounded: “We will do the work 400 meters deep from the surface of the land in the Natura Network and the Infanta area , with the sludge raft and the industrial zone [una de las tres que forman la explotación] It is superficial, but it is all outside the Natura network. ” On the second problem of a possible water pollution with heavy metals, Del Pozo Rebate: “Water also surprised us. We want IBW to be a sustainable mining reference with zero water operational discharge because we are going to recirculate all the water. At first we put a spill point, but now there is no longer. ”
The mining company ensures that it will achieve zero discharge thanks to the fact that it will reuse all the water with an inverse osmosis process in closed circuit developed by the Aguas de Valencia company. In addition, the storm will store with a deposit for 2.2 times the 500 -year return period, rains equivalent to the recent Dana of Valencia, Emerita argues.
The doubts of the environmental groups remain despite the promises of zero water pouring since it is an underground project whose toxic sludge resulting from the extraction is returned between 50% and 70% of the total to the galleries from which they were removed. “The exploitation is underground, but it entails the processing of minerals, which always leave tons of waste behind. Heavy metal leachates could reach the water we drink and the food we eat. In addition, the transfer of minerals by Guadiana could affect fauna and flora for 17 years of extraction, ”Critica Reyes Tirado, expert in climate change and sustainability of the University of Exeter (United Kingdom).
More severe and critical that this scientist is environmental in action: “Although Emerita intends to bleach her image talking about jobs and the need to access Spanish metal wealth, the truth is that it is nothing more than just one of the multiple companies that have come to obtain the maximum benefit at the expense of the exploitation of the lands and people of the Huelva pyritic strip, leaving behind dumps, poisoned rivers, rafts of contaminants and depressed regions, every time they close an extractive cycle. ”
Emerita defines IBW as an “exceptional project” for the high wealth in minerals that retains the subsoil of that area, and emphasizes that it must always have “a social commitment.” “I want social and government support to be 500% because I cannot afford that there is opposition when I will recover my investment in five or 10 years,” says Del Pozo. The mining company will distribute its offices and technological centers between Paymogo, Ayamonte and Sevilla.
The firm lost the public tender to exploit the Aznalcóllar mine and denounced it to justice. The oral view is celebrated this spring and Emerita is the only particular accusation personada in the process. As the Prosecutor’s Office does not accuse, there is the exceptional circumstance that if he retired from the trial, he would go down.
The municipalities close to the site see it with good eyes. “The exploitation project entails time and we are prudent, but there are resources to be exploited. It would be a turning point in industrial employment that we lost since the old mines closed in 1988. We are aware that you have to be alert so that mining is sustainable, and if there are repairs, because they are sub -saved with corrective measures, ”he says The Socialist Mayor of Puebla de Guzmán, Antonio Beltrán.
Apart from the key authorization of the Ministry of Environment, the project – whose logistics finances the European Union – must have the venia of the Portuguese authorities for its proximity to the border and the transfer of minerals through the Guadiana. Among others, cross -border consultations of the 2013 Environmental Law, the management of port waste and the environmental emergency plan to prevent spills or possible pollution from trucks or ships.
