Friends of the Earth Europe has sent a letter – together with Ecologistas en Acción, Amigas de la Tierra (Friends of the Earth Spain), MiningWatch Portugal, Movimento UIVO, Jordens Vänner (Friends of the Earth Sweden) and PowerShift – calling on the European Commission and Critical Raw Materials Board to reject the San Juan mining project in A Gudiña as a “Strategic Project”.
The European Commission is currently reviewing applications by project promoters to select the second batch of Strategic Projects under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). With this status, planned mining projects can be fast-tracked and funded more easily. During the first round of Strategic Projects, a number of controversial projects were selected, leading to public opposition and even court cases. For this second round, the Commission is following the same opaque procedure so chances are likely that the same mistakes are being made over again.
The San Juan project in A Gudiña (Ourense, Galicia, Spain), developed by Eurobattery Minerals AB, consists of an open-pit tungsten mine, located less than one kilometre from the Portuguese border. The mine is planned within the hydrological basin of the River Rabaçal, which flows directly into Portugal and into protected areas including the Montesinho Natural Park and the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve of the Iberian Plateau.
To ensure compliance with sustainability criteria, we demand that the CRM Board takes into account complementary information from independent sources, rather than depending on what companies claim. Based on the analysis by environmental groups Ecologistas en Acción and Amigas de la Tierra, the San Juan project presents legal irregularities and non-compliance with environmental regulations:
- Judicial rulings limiting the duration of the mining concession;
- Investigation by DG Competition regarding unlawful state aid;
- Authorisation of new facilities without the legally required Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA);
- Non-compliance with transborder EIA obligations under the Espoo Convention;
- Ongoing judicial and criminal proceedings concerning the project’s permits.
According to the CRMA itself, Strategic Projects must comply with EU environmental law and demonstrate a high level of legal certainty regarding permitting and implementation. Based on our evidence, that is not the case here. Therefore we ask to reject this mining project that poses significant risks for nature, but also people’s right to a healthy environment and clean water.
