Mining and Social Resistance in Argentina
Lead researchers: Dr. Diego Vazquez, Dr. Natalia Yakovleva, Prof. Max Munday
The project officially titled "Mining industry in Argentina: social resistance and the role of enterprises and stakeholders in the prevention and sustainable resolution of conflicts" is a joint research project between BRASS and School of Sciences of the University of Argentina.
In 1995, Government of Argentina introduced a new stage in development of the mining industry by reforming National Mining Code (originally sanctioned in 1886). This new stage promoted high tonnage open pit mining, delimited regulations and high technological investment, essentially destined for extraction of commodities such as gold and copper. This increase in mining activity in Argentina spread economical "spill-overs" to other industrial sector and the society in general. However, the mining activities produced both positive and negative impacts in economical, social and environmental terms.
Technical and industrial evaluations of mining activities do not necessarily coincide with bureaucratic procedure, the legal perspective or the community’s perceptions. As a result, a lack of cohesion generates gaps between "industrial evaluation", "scientific evaluation" and "community evaluation" that may result in tensions and conflicts. Recently, the mining projects, often led by multinational companies, have become a focus of social controversies and social resistance. The Argentine mining industry has been challenged by a number of conflicts formed around gold and copper prospecting and exploitation in areas such as Esquel, Chubut, and Bajo de la Alumbrera, and Catamarca: (See http://www.farn.org.ar/participacion/fallo_mineria180407.html)
