Costa Rica pulls plug on Placer’s exploration

The government of Costa Rica has ordered Placer Dome (PDG-T) to halt exploration at the Cerro Crucitas gold property, alleging the company is in non-compliance with its environmental impact statement.

The Ministry of Environment and Energy says Placer has damaged the environment at its wholly owned property, situtated in north-central Costa Rica, and will have to reverse whatever damage has been done.

“The company’s exploration and mining activities have eliminated parts of woodland and moved quantities of earth that have accumulated without adequate control,” says Environment Minister Rene Castro.

But Placer denies the charges, saying that before it installed roads and drill sites, the property had already been cleared by local ranchers for cattle pasture.

“We’re not sure what all the fuss is about,” company spokesman Hugh Leggatt tells The Northern Miner. “It’s not as if we’re the first to make an impact there. We were informed that we were in non-compliance with certain provisions of our environmental impact statement. In terms of our agreement, they should have approached us first, but they chose to have a press conference instead.”

He adds that the government’s decision will not affect exploration activities immediately.

Since 1993, Placer has spent US$20 million on the property, where it has identified a resource of 58.9 million tonnes grading 1.2 grams gold per tonne.

A prefeasibility study is under way on the volcanic-hosted epithermal deposit, and plans for 1997 include more drilling and environmental studies.

Gold-bearing targets are said to be extremely oxidized. Drilling to date has concentrated on a mineralized dome or hill.

The trouble in Costa Rica is just the latest in a series of difficulties for Placer Dome.

The company’s rights to 70% of the proposed US$576-million Las Cristinas gold mine Venezuela are being challenged by Crystallex International (KRY-T). The major also fell short in its recent attempt to secure a piece of the huge Busang gold deposit in Indonesia.

Placer took a US$40-million charge against earnings because of the March 1996 spill that dumped 4 million tonnes of mine waste into a Philippine river. The incident contributed to a 1996 loss of US$65 million.

“We seem to be in the news for various reasons, not all of them positive,” says Leggatt. “But if you’re active, as we try to be, then you’re going to hit the low spots as well as the high spots.”