One of the first consequences of RIGI. Bajo de Valcheta in the crosshairs of uranium megamining.
Corredor Americano, the oil services company of Grupo Corporación América, reached a preliminary agreement with the Canadian Blue Sky Uranium to develop a uranium mine near the town of Valcheta.
This is the Ivana mining property, which includes an area of 118,000 hectares within the Bajo de Valcheta, which is equivalent to twice the surface area of the Alto Valle del Río Negro. The project will occupy about 700 hectares, including quarries, waste dumps, facilities, deposits, tailings ponds, etc.
Ivana is one of the target areas of the Amarillo Grande uranium and vanadium project, belonging to Blue Sky Uranium. Under the agreement, which was announced this Monday, Corredor Americano can obtain up to a 50% indirect interest in the mining property by investing up to $35 million and advancing Ivana until completion of a feasibility study and drilling key exploration targets located in areas adjacent. Following a positive feasibility study, Corredor Americano can increase its equity participation by financing the estimated capital costs to achieve commercial production. The parties have agreed for a period of 90 days to negotiate definitive agreements in good faith.
The extraction of uranium from the subsoil introduces radioactive products into the biosphere that until then remained safely retained in the Earth’s crust, contributing to the radioactive poisoning of natural systems. The latest preliminary economic evaluation published by Blue Sky Uranium states that The Ivana mine will require the excavation of up to a total of 13,000 tons of materials per day.
Corporación América is a holding company founded by Eduardo Eurnekian, the “Armenian”, as everyone knows him, one of those who truly rule in Argentina, regardless of who wins the elections. President Javier Milei was one of the economists at Corporación América, and built his political career thanks to Eurnekian’s contacts. Also the Chief of Staff, Guillermo Francos, worked at Corporación América, and the Minister of Justice, Mariano Cúneo Libarona, was the legal representative of Hugo Eurnekian, the nephew of the powerful businessman.
Eurnekian’s entry into the uranium business occurred a few days before the approval in the Senate of the Law Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines, which creates the so-called Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI), a set of tax, customs and exchange benefits applicable throughout the national territory.
A Blue Sky Uranium newsletter, distributed on June 4, announced: “Milei’s RIGI Program Delivers Great Incentives to Argentine Mining.” The bulletin collects opinions from miners who operate in Argentina and seem pleased with Milei’s speech.
The RIGI establishes that all disputes arising from it must be submitted to international arbitration. The Environment and Natural Resources Foundation wondered what would happen if a municipality, a province or the National State filed a lawsuit for environmental damage against a business member of the RIGI and the latter submitted the conflict to arbitration because it considered that it affected its investments.
According to the RIGI, inputs for those projects classified as long-term strategic exports “may not be affected by regulatory restrictions on supply, transportation and processing.” Water could be considered an input for megamining. Water could be scarce in a territory, but the supply of the local population would be relegated as a consequence of the RIGI.
Cristian Basualdo
