It's been 10 years. A decade. Perhaps a little longer.

 

On September 24, 2014, reports began to circulate that animals were dying. Two cows on the El Mirador ranch were the first warning signs.

 

“Lead and arsenic detected in cattle in the Alto Mañihuales sector,” read the headline in El Diario de Aysén at the time. “Presence of heavy metals in dead heifer triggers rigorous investigation,” added the Coyhaique, Aysen, newspaper El Divisadero.

 

The Aysén Medical Association joined the questioning after conducting its own analyses, which confirmed what was suspected: several families in the area had high levels of heavy metals such as lead and arsenic, including zinc. Zinc is the main mineral mined by El Toqui, the company that has operated in the area since the mid-1980s under various owners. Since 2019, it has been owned by Sociedad Minera Pacífico del Sur.

 

Around that time, the then left-leaning Michelle Bachelet government addressed the issue. 

 

The health ministry identified the affected families (who were willing to participate in the process) to provide personalized health care. The program lasted two years and included checkups, medication, and the recommendation that they wear masks at all times. These families have lived in the area since before mining operations began.

 

As Mrs. Raquel said recently at a meeting with government officials, “We were born and raised there. We're not outsiders.” When they left the area near the tailings, all of their kids had already been affected, including their youngest, a four-year-old who “was already contaminated. And so was I. And several other neighbors too.”

 

Water samples were taken, inspections were initiated, and sanctions were imposed. All this while the commotion lasted. About two years, more or less.

 

The governor of Coyhaique, Cristian López Montecinos, set up a tripartite committee in the area: government, company, neighbors. At CODESA, a citizens group I am part of, we were part of the first meetings, as we were one of the organizations that made it possible for the issue to be heard at the regional and national levels. The provincial authority quickly closed the door on the possibility of our group and others monitoring the progress of the process.

 

Today, more than 3,000 kilometers away, López holds other positions. He is deputy minister in the First Environmental Court of Antofagasta. In recent years, he has used his votes to favor another mining project: Dominga, in Coquimbo.

 

The result of that meeting was clear: shortly afterwards, the project was underway, thanks to the State's usual transactional practice with certain companies: economic assistance in exchange for people's health and the integrity of ecosystems. This included subsidized public transport to Coyhaique, an adult literacy course, and the installation of photovoltaic panels, among other measures.

 

At that time, the company's manager stated that “the final plan to encapsulate the dam's crown is financed for 2016, and in January the final closure will begin to prevent pollution. This will require an investment of approximately US$2 million, fulfilling the commitment made at the meeting.”

 

A few years after the events of 2014, we forgot. Or rather, the state and the controlling entities forgot. Because civil society continued to raise the issue. In 2018, a seminar was organized in Puerto Ingeniero Ibáñez entitled “Water, mining, and agriculture: A virtuous relationship?” Incidentally, no authorities participated. This was during the second Piñera administration, which a year later would be quick to support the sale of the mine to its current owners, following the bankruptcy of the Australian company Laguna Gold.

 

What happened this summer, with the death of a dozen cattle, is, some would say, a chronicle of a death foretold. Of several deaths, rather. It was not new. At a meeting last week, the Agricultural Livestock Service (SAG) confirmed that in 2021 there had already been reports of horse deaths for the same reason: heavy metals.

 

In recent years, no systematic measurement mechanism has been put in place in the local ecosystem to accurately and regularly monitor the levels of contamination in the soil, fodder, livestock, water, and vegetables, not only next to the tailings but also much further away. People say that the dust flies as far as Lago Norte, about 10 kilometers from the Confluencia tailings.

 

There are also no regular health checks for residents and local people. The excuse is that it is too expensive, that perhaps it is not so serious. The offer is the normal health checks available to the entire population. And we know that problems are detected when it is already too late.

 

Worse still, no concrete measures have been taken regarding the Confluencia tailings dam, which contains almost 6 million tons of contaminated material that remains exposed to the elements, distributing minerals to the surrounding areas.

 

For five years now, this environmental liability has been subject to an order for environmental assessment, a measure that the Superintendency of the Environment has not been willing to implement. The agency did not attend the meeting convened last week, despite the fact that the head of the regional office, Oscar Leal, had been formally invited.

 

I recent years, during the Gabriel Boric government, the regional minister for mining, Juan Vásquez, paradoxically a member of the Green Ecologist Federation party (which some time ago was joined by many members of the now defunct Green Ecologist Party), has devoted himself to touting “the company's leadership.” Despite being informed of the irregularities, he did not attend the meeting either.

 

The same happened with the National Mining Service (Sernageomin), whose regional director, Andrea Aguilar, was another official who did not attend.

 

These absences were noticeable and leave questions unanswered. The same questions that the State, under different administrations, has been unwilling to address. This validates what Ms. Raquel summarized in last week's meeting: “We must not let this issue be dropped, because then we really will lose.”