Deal #811

July 2013. In a local referendum the people of Las Piedras Municipality said No to the Mine activities. But the referendum result has been observed for the Central Government for not being included in the legal Colombian framework for Mining Concessions The members of AGA Colombia have recognized that they did the mistake of having their processes secretly. According to them they did this because of the confidentiality of the matter.

Feb 2013. The people from the town of Piedras Municipality protested against the mine working. Mar 2013. Tolima Regional Autonomous Corporation (CORTOLIMA) suspended the Mine working because they were starting works in a territory with agricultural and forestry purposes. July 2013. In a local referendum the people of Las Piedras Municipality said No to the Mine activities On March 26, 2017 a plebiscite was held in Cajamarca around the question of having mining activities on their territories or not. The population rejected the presence of the Anglo Gold Ashanti in their municipality. Source: http://www.aga-reports.com/17/ir

Anglo Gold Ashanti had a project to resettle those households. Up to 2017 they have relocated 51 households. 6 were still pending but were supposed to do this by 2018 Source: https://thevault.exchange/?get_group_doc=143/1502963466-Sustainabledevelopmentreport2016.pdf

First of all, the exploration area for the gold mine collides with the Central Forest Reserve. Only in the exploration activities, it has been found by the National University of Colombia that the levels of heavy metals, arsenic and others are exceeding the allowed levels by the current legislation. Some peasants in the region have asserted that the cost of living in Cajamarca has considerably increased and the spending of the workers goes mostly to the capital of the state and not to the municipality directly. Another aspect for consideration is the fact that several peasants have decided to leave agriculture and start working for the company as unskilled laborers. As it was previously mentioned, there was also displacement of some households just in the exploration phase of the project.

Resettlement of 51 families. Between 2010 and 2016 the company has invested US$ 2 Millions on social programs for labor training. They have reforested 8.39 hectares and held programs to reintroduce 16 young people to farming.

Training programs, reforestation.

CENSAT, Bioparque