{"id":667766,"date":"2026-09-02T00:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T00:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/667766\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T00:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T00:03:18","slug":"they-take-the-water-the-springs-dry-up-fear-as-guatemalan-goldmine-plan-is-revived-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/667766\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They take the water, the springs dry up\u2019: fear as Guatemalan goldmine plan is revived | Mining"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the community of La Lima in Guatemala<\/a>, Elda Dinora Ram\u00edrez, 58, looks towards a small well at the back of her home. Dusty wooden planks lie across the opening, concealing the faint gleam of water far below. \u201cThe well is drying up again,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Ram\u00edrez\u2019s home lies less than a mile from Era Dorada<\/a> \u2013 a goldmining project acquired by the Canadian multinational Aura Minerals in January 2025. After years of inactivity, the project was reactivated this year when the Guatemalan government granted Aura a construction licence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Elda Dinora Ram\u00edrez lives less than a mile from the mine site in La Lima, Guatemala. Photograph: Euan Wallace<\/p>\n

Exploration began in 1997 under the then-owners Entre Mares, a subsidiary of Goldcorp, and the project has faced a significant backlash throughout its 29-year history.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil all this started happening, we had a happy and peaceful life here,\u201d says Ram\u00edrez. \u201cThere was no talk of mining; everything was calm.\u201d<\/p>\n

After initial excavation began in 2007, residents such as Ram\u00edrez reported water shortages. They blamed the mine for pumping out large quantities of geothermal water that was filling the tunnels during excavation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe machines they use draw from deep down; they take all the water and the springs dry up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Although the mine\u2019s development was suspended in 2013 due to unfavourable market conditions, the project site continued to have water extracted in subsequent years.<\/p>\n

With operations temporarily halted, locals around the mine reported that water levels in their wells began to recover. Then known as Cerro Blanco, the project was sold by Goldcorp to the Vancouver-based Bluestone Resources in 2017. In 2021, Bluestone announced a controversial plan to convert the project into an open-pit mine.<\/p>\n

A year later, a community referendum in nearby Asunci\u00f3n Mita rejected the project, with 88% of voters opposing it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great victory for the people,\u201d says Yony Barrera, 51, owner of a hardware store in Asunci\u00f3n Mita and vice-president of an activist group campaigning against the mine.<\/p>\n

Employees behind a gate to the Era Dorada site. The company says it has begun deforestation, construction of equipment platforms and removal of water from the mine. Photograph: Euan Wallace<\/p>\n

In 2024, Guatemala\u2019s new government annulled the environmental licence<\/a> for Bluestone\u2019s proposed open-pit mine, just months after it had been approved by the previous administration. But activists feared that work on the project would not remain dormant for ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it wouldn\u2019t be over,\u201d says Barrera. \u201cThis will only stop when they take the gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the mining site hums with life once again. Heavy vehicles judder past the rusted coils of barbed wire that mark the site\u2019s borders, clouds of dust rising in their wake. Workers in hard hats and navy-blue overalls gather around the entrance.<\/p>\n

The company predicts an annual production of 111,000 ounces<\/a> of gold in the first four years of operation. In a statement, Aura says industrial operations have not yet begun, although construction and site preparation work are under way, and that vegetation clearance is authorised under its licence and is being carried out within limits set by the project\u2019s EIA.<\/p>\n

Arnulfo D\u00edaz says he sustained an injury that left him deaf in one ear while working at the mine in 2008. Photograph: Euan Wallace<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are advancing a lot, and very quickly,\u201d says Arnulfo D\u00edaz, 43. \u201cAt the same time, we are advancing towards our own destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz worked on the project in 2008 as part of the excavation team under Entre Mares, where he says he sustained an injury that left him deaf in his right ear. He fears the project\u2019s return may bring wider consequences for his community.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fear is that we will lose everyday access to water,\u201d he says. \u201cWhere are we going to go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ram\u00edrez says the effects are already being felt. As well as her well drying up since the project was reactivated in January, her fruit trees are losing their harvest to drought and her livestock are suffering from respiratory illness she attributes to dust from the mine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I lie down at night I start to think: there is no hope left,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Aura Minerals says measures are being taken to suppress dust at the site and monitoring has so far shown that the work has had no impact on air quality.<\/p>\n

Aura says it is approaching the project with a renewed focus on sustainability, pledging to develop it as an underground mine after more than 1,000 hours of dialogue with local communities. In a company statement<\/a>, Aura\u2019s president and chief executive, Rodrigo Barbosa, points to plans for a water-purification plant and the use of 100% recycled water.<\/p>\n

The offices of Era Dorada in Asunci\u00f3n Mita. Photograph: Euan Wallace<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ensures we not only do no harm, but go beyond and create positive value for the communities and environment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every fortnight<\/p>\n

Sign up to Global Dispatch<\/p>\n

Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features, opinion and photography, curated by our global development team<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Aura says it will recycle water used in the industrial process in a closed-loop system with no discharge and treat excess natural water from the mine to a drinkable standard for local communities. The company also points to continuous water-quality monitoring upstream and downstream of the operation and says hydrogeological studies and monitoring show no evidence of reduced water availability for local communities.<\/p>\n

But activists claim that the environmental guardrails in place, designed to limit the project\u2019s harmful impact, fall short of what is required.<\/p>\n

According to Era Dorada\u2019s opponents, the project continues to operate under a widely criticised Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which was approved in 2007.<\/p>\n

A 2023 report<\/a> commissioned by the Central American Alliance Against Mining (Acafremin) says experts from Guatemala\u2019s ministry of environment and natural resources rejected the EIA in 2004 and 2005, but the ministry replaced them in 2007, and the new head of the unit approved the EIA shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n

Julio Gonz\u00e1lez, of the Guatemalan environmental organisation Madre Selva, and other activists say these changes are evidence of past corruption and have criticised the EIA for failing to account for key environmental considerations, such as the safe disposal of cyanide \u2013 a highly toxic chemical commonly used to separate gold from rock.<\/p>\n

A 2022 report<\/a> by Steven Emerman, a geophysicist and independent mining expert, recommended that all of the mine\u2019s permits be revoked.<\/p>\n

A stretch of the Ost\u00faa River a short distance from the mining site. Photograph: Euan Wallace<\/p>\n

In its statement, Aura says the current underground project falls within the scope of the original EIA and its active environmental licence, which it describes as being fully valid and adequate for the operation. Aura confirms it plans to use cyanide in the Era Dorada project, but says the mine is designed to manage it in line with relevant standards, with the process operating in a closed-circuit system and a detoxification stage at the end of the process to neutralise cyanide in the solution.<\/p>\n

The mine is in the protected biological corridor of the Ost\u00faa dry forest<\/a>, and environmentalists fear that inadequate governance could expose crucial ecosystems to contamination by heavy metals. Aura says the project is not located in an area with legal restrictions, and claims to have plans in place to maintain the ecological integrity of the surroundings.<\/p>\n

Scientists also warn that geothermal water discharged during tunnel excavation carries high levels of arsenic. A 2019 study<\/a> by a biologist, Cidia Cortes, reported elevated arsenic levels at points on the Ost\u00faa River where the mine discharged geothermal water.<\/p>\n

The company says, however, that arsenic occurs naturally at higher than normal levels in the region and that all of the water pumped from the underground workings is treated to reduce arsenic. Era Dorada also says it is investing to upgrade treatment to improve water to drinkable standards.<\/p>\n

The Ost\u00faa River feeds into Lake G\u00fcija<\/a>, a protected site that straddles the Guatemala-El Salvador border. Here, communities fear that reactivating the mining project could jeopardise their livelihoods.<\/p>\n

Mirna Margarita says: \u2018These times are very worrying, with all this contamination that could come to us.\u2019 Photograph: Euan Wallace<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have eight children,\u201d says Mirna Margarita, 58, who lives in the lakeside community of Cuevitas. \u201cWe fished just to sustain them and put them through school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking out over the blue waters of Lake G\u00fcija, she leans back on a lopsided sofa. \u201cThese times are very worrying, with all this contamination that could come to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her husband, Maximiliano P\u00e9rez, 59, who has fished all of his life, sits opposite her. \u201cIt worries us greatly that the mine might become active again and start working, with how much we stand to lose,\u201d he says. \u201cWe look at the lake like a mother \u2013 she is what gives us our food.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pedro Arrieta, a resident of the town of Asunci\u00f3n Mita, says mining brings contamination, corruption and death. Photograph: Euan Wallace<\/p>\n

Amid ongoing uncertainty, many who live close to the mine share concerns about the future. Pedro Arrieta, 55, is a baker from Asunci\u00f3n Mita. He sits in his family home, where a small plate of home-cooked pastries is passed around the room. \u201cWhat mining brings is contamination, corruption and death,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

A collection of family photos is arranged on the wall behind him. Generations of faces look out from within the gold-rimmed frames. \u201cWhat are we going to leave to our next generation?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the community of La Lima in Guatemala, Elda Dinora Ram\u00edrez, 58, looks towards a small well at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[269],"tags":[18,440,19,17,133],"class_list":["post-667766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-eire","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117198520842704706","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}