
High in the Andes, a Mine Eats a 400-Year-Old City - teh_klev
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151202-Cerro-de-Pasco-Peru-Volcan-mine-eats-city-environment/
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srameshc
We don't allow toys here for the fear of lead contamination and here are
"2,070 children with blood lead levels above 10 micrograms per deciliter—twice
the danger level". If only other people can impose some kind of sanctions on
this business to be more responsible towards their children. From what I
understand, it won't cost a lot of money to take care of its children, but the
adamant and irresponsible Volcan Compania Minera won't care for the people who
brings them profits.

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dkural
It is very unreasonable to first allow mining in the center of town, and then
expect someone else, not those reaping rents (in profits and in taxes) to bear
the costs of moving the citizens to to avoid lead poisoning. Their health is
ruined, their home values are ruined. Their town is ruined. Of course it
would've been better in the first place to not mine in such a hazardous manner
in the middle of a 70K person town.

~~~
notahacker
I think what the article misses is that the mine is pretty much the only
reason the city has inhabitants. The Altiplano is not exactly full of other
economic opportunities or appeal.

The other problem is that although these people are "middle income" by UN
standards, by any reasonable standard they're _desperately, desperately_ poor.
Which is why they stay for the mining-linked income opportunities.

~~~
schiffern
>I think what the article misses is that the mine is pretty much the only
reason the city has inhabitants.

Generally people are driven to the urban centers in the first place after
their [sustainable] rural ways of life and systems of land management are
dismantled in the name of "liberalization"/"privatization"/"modernization",
leading to ecological deterioration, and ultimately resulting in complete
desertification.

This process is taking place pretty much everywhere. Recently we've seen its
bloody end-game in Syria:
[https://www.grain.org/bulletin_board/entries/5225-over-
grazi...](https://www.grain.org/bulletin_board/entries/5225-over-grazing-and-
desertification-in-the-syrian-steppe-are-the-root-causes-of-war)

It's critical to understand that human society takes place within a
biophysical-ecological context. Ignore that and our predictions about the
future are bound to be wildly inaccurate. The same can also be said about our
understanding of the past.

~~~
douche
Sure, that makes sense, but it ignores the historical reality of the
situation. The only reason this city exists in the first place is because
there was a huge deposit of silver there that the Incas or the Spaniards
stumbled upon. The town grew up around the mines. The easy-to-get-at silver
petered out, and they switched to mining copper, then zinc and lead.
Eventually, old-style shaft mining was no longer profitable, and open-pit
mining replaced it.

If you wanted to live a 15th century lifestyle growing potatoes and quinoa and
herding llamas and alpacas, you can still do that - people up and down the
Andes still are.

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iokevins
As a non-expert, I ask, "What's a solution that meets the needs of all
parties?" The mine went from private to government to private hands. The
people and workers need the basics, at a minimum: water, clean air, safety,
health care...plus, they need opportunity. The mine owner and shareholders
want a return on investment, at a time when metal prices have bottomed-out.

After reading the article, it seems so complicated that it would take
competent reconciliation between all parties, to find a solution.

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marshray
I support people being able to live without pollution. I also support mining
as a fundamental economic activity necessary for human civilization.

But what I don't get is how this mine can extract hundreds of millions of
dollars per year out of the ground and yet not be willing to scrape up the
relatively small investment needed to comfortably relocate a few thousand
Chilean villagers.

Mining isn't necessary a high-profit-margin business, but they really ought to
consider resettlement to be a proper business expense.

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scott_o
[meta] did anybody try opening this article without adblock? I got two flash
ads autoplaying audio in firefox (in chrome they don't auto-play audio), each
with the same movie trailer but one was about a second behind the other. And
it jacked up my scrolling pretty hard, probably due to the performance hit
(the page loaded noticeably slower.)

