29 June 2022

On June 18, new amendments in the country’s mining code went into force. Among other things, they allow companies to carry out mining with environmental impact assessments more than a year old, as long as the delay was caused by reasons that include “civil disobedience.”

Development of the Amulsar mine was suspended in 2018 following large protests against the project’s potential environmental damage. Since then its prospects have fallen and risen as the government appeared unable to reconcile the need for investment and jobs in the country with the serious environmental consequences that the mine threatened, and the resulting popular opposition to the project.

The government has not said formally whether it intends to restart the mine project. But activists monitoring it say that all signs point in that direction. 

After parliament passed the law earlier this year, a group of activist organizations appealed to the government to revoke it. “This legislative change is, in fact, a restriction on the constitutional right to hold public meetings, rallies, marches, demonstrations, as well as the right to participate in decision-making,” the February 10 letter read. “It is obvious that the legislative change is primarily related to [the] Amulsar gold quartzite mine development project.”...