...British mining company Alexander Gold [part of Alexander Mining] announced their withdrawal from a $40 million mining project in...Salta...The company stated that growing social and political uncertainty led to their decision...claim[ing] that this “uncertainty” stems from conflicts regarding the low royalties and tax benefits offered...Tax breaks and exemptions guaranteed by the national government mean that...mining projects generate very little benefits for local provinces...who suffer from poverty, lack of infrastructure and poor social services...[P]rovincial authorities recently eliminated a series of royalty exemptions for future mining projects...But environmental conflict and popular resistance to transnational mining projects are also at the root of this conflict...At the center of their claims is the tremendous utilization and contamination of water resources...Alexander Gold’s Graham Parsons blamed local social organizations...: “These people are feeding fear, saying terrible things, lies, exaggerations.”...