The government of Mendoza postponed the holding of the public hearing by the Malargüe Western Mining District II scheduled for February 8 to comply with information requirements requested by interested parties in the 29 mineral exploration projects, which will be added to the 34 already approved in the first part.
The measure adopted by the Mining Directorate and the Mendoza Environmental Protection Directorate responds to the need to guarantee an exhaustive analysis of the documentation presented, including a response to the report issued by the Faculty of Sciences Applied to Industry (FCAI).
In response to the query of Energy Report from Impulsa Mendoza stated that “The process has been improved and they have requested an expansion in the analysis methodology and alternative bibliography has been suggested for some points.”
These requests – according to officials who told this media – will be responded to as soon as possible, in the first days of 2025, once the deadlines have passed. New Year’s Eve Partiesanother of the reasons that delayed the presentations.
Why the public hearing for Malargüe Western Mining District II was postponed
In a statement issued by the provincial government, the provincial Mining director, Jerónimo Shantal, explained that the decision was made to respond to the Faculty of Sciences Applied to Industry (FCAI), which “needs to interpret some information that has been requested based on the technical report, and that the proponent Impulsa Mendoza has been notified to complete this information”.
The official added that “Based on that notification, the proponent requested time to prepare the response in a satisfactory manner, so the Mining Environmental Authority has suspended the public hearing that had originally been set for February 8.”
One of the main reasons that led the government to delay the public hearing is to continue with “transparency in all processes”, where the director of Environmental Protection, Leonardo Fernandez stated that “Citizens must know the details of the entire project before raising it to their public audience and thus be able to have a more critical and active participation”.
In this way, it seeks to guarantee a more rigorous environmental evaluation, promoting the active and well-informed participation of the community in decisions that impact their environment.
When will the new public hearing be held?
The date of the new public hearing will be established when the requested responses are received and the Mining Environmental Authority can determine the “reasonable time” for the community to read all the information, which is being added to the project file. Malargüe Western Mining District II.
How in the first public hearing where the 34 projects were approved for exploration, Malargüe Western Mining District II It will have the technical opinion of the Faculty of Applied Sciences and sectoral reports from multiple organizations, which will be incorporated and published on the official website before the new public hearing date so that any citizen can consult them.
The organizations that will present reports for the public hearing:
- Municipality of Malargüe.
- General Irrigation Department.
- Directorate of Protected Areas.
- Hydraulics Management.
- Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums.
- Energy Transition Directorate.
- Livestock Directorate.
- Biodiversity and Ecopark Directorate.
- National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI).
- Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (Ianigla).
- Planning Directorate of the Undersecretary of Infrastructure and Territorial Development.
- Directorate of State Registerable Assets.
- Hydrocarbons Directorate.
- Argentine Institute for Research in Arid Zones (Iadiza).
The 29 projects of the Malargüe Western Mining District 2
The environmental and sectoral reports are exclusively for mining explorations, since at this stage the aim is to discover the geological potential of the area.
There are a total of 29, which, if approved, will be added to the 34 who successfully passed the massive hearing on September 14 and have legislative approval:
- The Destiny.
- Cuprum.
- Mercedes (Huanquimeleo).
- Mercedes (Mariano).
- Mercedes (February 14).
- Mercedes (Mercedes North).
- Pampas.
- Green Stones.
- Tango.
- Chamame.
- Alicia (Arroyo de la Piedra).
- Clotilde.
- Elise.
- Excalibur.
- The Victory.
- Sofia.
- Titan.
- Dapple.
- Lucero.
- Malargüito.
- PAS.
- Qatar.
- Villagra.
- Belluno.
- Mel.
- Rome and Veneto.
- Angelica.
- Malargüe West.
- Sierra Azul.
Source: Ambito
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