Spain has the largest gold mine in Europe. The problem is that we haven't opened it yet.
The residents of Tapia have been hearing for years that they have 300,000 kilos of gold under their feet
It is an extremely controversial project due to its possible environmental impact.
October 13, 2023 Updated December 4, 2023, 12:45
"There will be a mine." It seems that there is a possible answer to what the residents of Tapia de Casariego have been wondering for years. Especially when they were told that there were 300,000 kilos of gold under their feet . The question is when. Spain could give the green light to the excavation of the largest mine in our country. It is not just any deposit, it is probably the largest gold mine in Europe . And it is found here, in Tapia de Casariego (Asturias), on the shores of the Cantabrian Sea.
Neither oil nor gas, but a land of metals, Spain has been the object of desire for its underground treasures since 2,000 years ago, when the Romans carried out the first excavations. Back then, we did not have the tools we have today, nor could technology tell them where the shiny golden metal was.
And the truth is that they were not wrong: in Asturias alone it is estimated that there are 480 gold deposits . But the prize goes to Salave, where there could be, according to studies, a whopping more than 300 tons of gold . During the times of the Roman Empire, only 100 million cubic meters were removed in the area, enough to extract about 7,000 kilos of gold. A tiny part of what still sleeps down there.
As we explained in this other Xataka article , the Empire was capable of extracting more than six tons of gold from the mines in the northwest of the peninsula each year. As? Using a method called ruina montium , a system that, with the help of the force of water, large geological structures collapse with little effort. In those times Las Médulas, in León, were the mines in Spain that provided the most gold to Rome.
But the jackpot was in Tapia. Since the last century, attempts have been made to exploit its Salave mine without much success . Dozens of companies carried out hundreds of surveys in the territory and no results were reached. Not because of a lack of interest from companies, but because extracting the gold from it would have a serious environmental impact on the area.
Many of the residents of the municipality are afraid that natural deterioration will worsen their quality of life. Others fear being expropriated from their homes. But the mining plan does not seem willing to stop. And even more knowing the enormous amount of gold that resides underground. In 2010, they came very close to achieving it . AsturGold proposed a project but in December 2014 the Principality of Asturias vetoed the exploitation . Three years later, in 2017, the Principality's Superior Court confirmed the veto and that was it.
A controversial project
The mining dream is not dead yet. "We hope to start producing gold in the Tapia mine in three years," explained José Manuel Domínguez , general director of Exploraciones Mineras del Cantábrico (EMC), promoter of the Salave JA gold mine. "There will be a mine, I am convinced," he said. .
The new project in the study phase has a budget of 100 million euros to extract some 31,000 kilos of gold in 14 years . But it has already received 1,297 allegations of environmental impact, which are being studied. EMC's goal is to extract one million ounces of gold, about 31,000 kilos, and they hope to start producing in 2025.
The sector is convinced that the current project is different from the one that was processed years ago with much controversy and that was ultimately not authorized by the Principality. Now, for example, they have dispensed with the use of cyanide and they emphasize that they will only discharge water that is "99% clean . " The company defends: "The project is not against anyone. What we want is to adapt it to make it as sustainable as possible. And that is what we are doing now, consulting the Administration if it is compatible."
Is it enough to convince people? It is not clear. Environmental and health degradation is a clear condition. Not even the prospects for job creation (about 250 new jobs) compensate for the damage that exploitation will also cause to the local economy, especially for livestock farms. The geologist from Ecologistas en Acción, Beatriz González, explained in this article that she doubts the quality of the water that will be discharged and defended the impact on the water environment as "evident."
The "Gold No" platform has managed to bring together ranchers, hoteliers, fishermen , neighbors who oppose this new attempt to extract gold. They have been defeating the multinational mining companies for decades and, meanwhile, Tapia de Casariego, a tiny municipality that almost no one knows, lives divided. As the saying goes: The more gold, the less rest.
https://www.xataka.com/magnet/espana-tiene-mina-oro-grande-europa-problema-que-no-hemos-abierto-1
