Chile Rejects Dominga Mining Project Near Biodiversity Hotspot

On Wednesday, Environment Minister Maisa Rojas announced that the Chilean government has rejected a mining project valued at 2.5 billion dollars, which was intended to extract iron and copper near a unique nature reserve in the world.

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Unanimously, a committee made up of the ministers of health, mining, agriculture, energy and the economy decided to accept twelve claims made against the Dominga port project.

The decision is "robust, traceable and based on technical evidence," Rojas said, adding that the claims are related to environmental effects such as marine biodiversity, water pollution and air quality.

Proposed by the company Andes Iron, the billion-dollar investment project includes the opening of a mine and a port near La Higuera, which is a poor community located about 500 kilometers north of Santiago City.

The tweet reads, "Citizen victory! The Committee of Ministers environmentally rejected the Dominga port mining project."

The Dominga project's facilities, however, would have been set at the area of influence of the Humboldt Archipelago, which is one of the world's most important biodiversity hotspots and home to 80 percent of the members of a penguin species.

"The port we are talking about is located in a place that has an ecological value that is absolutely unique," the Environment minister said, adding that there are "deep water upwellings with nutrients, which are the basis for a whole chain of life very only."

Before assuming the presidency, Gabriel Boric expressed his rejection of the Dominga project, although its defenders assure that mining will bring development to La Higuera.