Surprisingly, the Canadian company Infinite Gold, dedicated to the extraction of golddecided to withdraw a claim against Costa Rica for the failed Crosses in Cutris de San Carlos.
The appeals court to which the complaint was presented at the international level has not yet accepted the request and is expected to do so in about 4 weeks, President Rodrigo Chaves indicated this afternoon.
“When the ruling is consolidated, we are going to give the pertinent statements and we are going to clarify what the future of Crosses (…) This is not a government that looks at its belly and scratches its navel,” said Chaves.
Once the request is accepted by the companythe government could develop a mine there with another company, on its own account, and even with said company, since there would be no legal impediment.
Read more: Minera Infinito Gold pays $300 thousand to continue arbitration against Costa Rica for the Crucitas case
Also, this would allow us to take complete control of the land and stop illegal gold extraction, environmental damage and the coligalleros.
The legal process is in the court of the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
And it is that Infinite Gold withdrew from a procedure to annul the resolution issued in 2021 by an international arbitration court, which determined that Costa Rica should not compensate that company. The company was seeking nearly $400 million in damages.
Read more: Infinito Gold seeks to annul ruling in favor of Costa Rica for closure of Crucitas mining project
The mining project in Crosses It was stopped in 2014 after a ruling by Chamber IV against it.
On this topic, Edgardo Araya, an environmental lawyer and former deputy of the Frente Amplio that brought down the mining project, pointed out that there are many doubts surrounding this decision, while suggesting that something could be happening to reactivate the mine.
“Why has the government insisted so much that nothing can be raised in Crosses until the arbitration is resolved? Is the government clear that nothing resolved in the award will affect the future of that area? And most importantly, what did the Government negotiate? What are you committing to? Is there use of public funds involved? Did they consider the existing legal prohibitions and our environmental regulations? Given the attitude of this government, one could expect anything,” said Araya.
