Loading ...Chubut is not only famous for being the first Argentinian province to legalize medical marijuana. It is also known for having one of the largest silver, lead, and gold reserves in the world, as well as considerable amounts of uranium.
But most of these mineral resources, particularly silver, cannot be exploited in the southern region due to a moratorium that bans open-pit mining and the use of cyanide for metal recovery.
The activities have been prohibited since 2003, when 82% of the population at the city of Esquel voted to approve provincial law 5001.
But in times of recession, priorities shift. That’s why the provincial government announced the possibility of launching a new referendum in 2017, with the idea of revisiting the topic. “We need to update our productive matrix because we are not garnering enough income from oil, cattle farming, and fishing activities,” the minister in charge of coordinating the provincial cabinet, Víctor Cisterna, told the press.
cont. http://www.mining.com/argentinian-province-to-launch-mining-referendum/