Special Mining Zone Created In Argentina’s Santa Cruz Province

VANCOUVER — Encompassing a swath of exploration and mining projects, the Santa Cruz provincial government in Argentina has designated roughly half the province’s area as a region of special interest for mining. The designation makes more explicit the province’s mine permitting procedures.

Using co-ordinates reported in Prensa Libre, an Argentine newspaper, the borders of the mining area essentially draw a 120,000- sq.-km rectangle pinned to the northeastern corner of the province where it meets Chubut province to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

From that point, the mining area’s borders follow the coastline about 400 km south to the Santa Cruz River, its southern limit. Heading inland, the southern border follows the river until it reaches national Highway 40, which then forms the western limit of the mining area. Highway 40 is about 100 km east of Argentina’s border with Chile and runs north, within striking distance of the eastern foothills of the Andes, up to Chubut province. Back east to the Atlantic, the interprovincial Chubut-Santa Cruz border demarcates the mining area’s northern limit.

Andean Resources (AND-T, AND-A), which operates the Cerro Negro gold property in the special mining area, reports that there are a few additional limits within the zone.

“The new area of special interest for mining permits mining from 4 kilometres of the shores of lakes and the axis of major rivers, and from 10 kilometres of the city limits of towns,” Andean explained in a press release. “In addition, the new legislation also permits the processing of ores from 20 kilometres of these major water features.”

Though the additional limits might at first glance seem onerous, they in fact exclude few zones from development inside the mining area, as Santa Cruz province is not only Argentina’s least populated province, but is by and large a desert. Its largest lakes are outside the mining area in the Andes.

“This initiative securely establishes a more efficient mechanism than existed up until now, (and) extends the limits of exploitation, without taking a step back in terms of the environment,” said Francisco Anglesio in Tiempo Sur, a Santa Cruz province daily. Anglesio, a former sub-secretary of environment, was responsible for putting together the legislation governing the special mining area.

Operating mines within the area of special interest include the Cerro Vanguardia gold mine, 92.5%-owned by Anglogold Ashanti (AU-N, AGD-L), and the San Jose silver-gold mine, a 51-49 joint venture between Hochschild Mining (HOC-L) and Minera Andes (MAI-T).

The special mining area is also home to numerous exploration projects, such as Andean’s Cerro Negro project, Exeter Resource’s (XRC-T, XRA-X) Cerro Moro gold project and Argentex Mining’s (ATX-V) Pinguino silver-zinc-indium project.

“I consider this new legislation as positive in defining the areas within the province where mining activities will be encouraged,” says Andean president and CEO Wayne Hubert in a statement.