BY Susana Peña Nassar | June 26, 2024, 11:55 AM
Costa Rica and the Infinito Gold company They requested the “termination” of the dispute that they maintained before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), of the World Bank, for the failed Crucitas mining project.
This is clear from the last update of said case, dated June 14, available on the ICSID website. “The parties submit a request for termination of the proceedings in accordance with ICSID Arbitration Rules 53 and 43(1),” the information says.
On June 3, that arbitration body had issued a resolution favorable to the country, which ruled out Infinito Gold’s million-dollar compensation claims; but the Canadian company decided to reactivate the litigation, a process in which it finally gave up.
“Regarding the dispute between Industrias Infinito and the Costa Rican State, we maintain increasingly positive expectations about an outcome favorable to the interests of Costa Rica in this long dispute,” said Manuel Tovar, Minister of Foreign Trade, who heads the defense of Costa Rica. before the ICSID, based in Washington.
Through their press office, they indicated that Tovar, for the moment, would not give more details.
On the ICSID website, the status of the procedure still appears as “pending.”
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Infinito Gold Company reactivates litigation against Costa Rica for mining in Crucitas
The company paid $300,000 to resume the arbitration process.
Mining project
In 2008, the Government of the day attempted to create an open pit mining project in the area of Crucitas, San Carlos, through a concession to the company Industrias Infinito Gold, an initiative that was even declared of public interest.
This concession was illegal due to the environmental impact it entailed, as well as the declaration of interest that the Government made without the respective technical studies. This was declared by the Contentious Administrative Court, which in 2010 brought down the contract and forced the Infinito Gold company to pay for the environmental damage.
From then on, the country entered into a conflict with the company, which required international arbitration with the ICSID, which is a specialized body of the World Bank, located in Washington, United States. The company intended, among other things, for the country to pay it for the investments made and the supposed profits lost when the concession was annulled. Both amounts add up to a total of $394.8 million (more than ₡244 billion).
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Minister of Security on Crucitas: “They tell us that they are preparing people to carry out armed resistance”
According to Zamora, the Police have confiscated, to date, more than 300 metal raffles to separate gold, each one has a value of more than ₡3 million.
