Summary:
We request that the European Commission acts firmly as guarantor of the Natura 2000 Protected Areas and indefinitely halt all mining operations in the vicinity of the Porcía river in western Asturias.
We also request that the European Commission endorses that the government of the Principality of Asturias proceeds to expropriate the land currently belonging to the company Explotaciones Mineras del Cantábrico (EMC), a subsidiary of Black Dragon Gold, so that such land, which contains very important remains of Roman gold mining in the 1st to 2nd centuries AD, can be enjoyed by the public and an Interpretation Centre of the Roman Gold Mining in Asturias can be built.
Geographical location:
The valley of the river Porcía is located in the western part of Asturias (Spain). Its riverbed being listed as a Natura 2000 Protected Area by Decree 131/2014 of 17 December, which declared it as the Special Area of Conservation Río Porcía (ES1200024) and approved its First Management Instrument. Link: https://naturalezadeasturias.es/upload/IGI_Decreto_131_2014_IG_Rio_Porcia.pdf
In the eastern part of the municipality of Tapia de Casariego, bordering the course of the river Porcía and therefore within Porcia’s Natura 2000 Protected Area, there are some important archaeological remains in a rural environment that reach up to the coast itself. These archaeological remains correspond to the Roman gold mining activities carried out between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. These vestiges are unique in the Iberian Peninsula as there are no remains of any other Roman gold mines so close to the coast. Despite such cultural importance, its degradation continues inexorably due to the lack of a comprehensive recovery plan for the area.
The Problem:
Both the Porcía riverbed and the aforementioned archaeological remains are permanently threatened by the continuous and successive attempts at mining by the company Explotaciones Mineras del Cantábrico (EMC), a subsidiary of Black Dragon Gold of Canadian origin.
It seems that the company has gone to great lengths to conceal the use of chemical compounds known as xanthates. These compounds would be the waste that would remain forever in the Porcia valley, in the so-called tailings flotation pond, i.e. adjacent to the area recognised as a Natura 2000 Protected Area. As a result,the responsibility of the European Commission for the protection of water flows into this Natura 2000 Protected Area would be severely compromised.
Several scientific articles have been recently published on the potential toxicity of xanthates. For example, we would like to highlight the article entitled “Xanthates on the radar: environmental risks and impact on water quality” published on 1 September 2024 in the journal “Water research X”, the link to which is included below in annex 1.
Signatures of representatives of the Fontes del Porcía association and other individuals:
Angel Manuel Fuentes Mateos (Founder and President of the association Fontes del Porcía)
[The remaining 192 signatures have been deleted for confidentiality reasons]
Total: 193 signatures
Note: We will present a supplementary annex with an additional list of signatories in the coming weeks. We will also attach photos of the result of the indiscriminate felling of indigenous trees by the mining company in April 2022 and, of the enormous and unjustified damage done to the tracks and paths in the area, which may have destroyed Roman archaeological remains forever.
Annex 1: Links to further information
- Association Fontes del Porcía (available in EN, FR and ES languages): FONTES DEL PORCÍA
- Link to the list of Europe’s 7 Most Endangered heritage sites (in English): Europe’s 7 Most Endangered heritage sites announced
- Article in the regional press on the terrible environmental and social impacts of the possible exploitation (in Spanish): El oro de Salave: del limbo al infierno “to extract 32 tonnes of gold, that is, a useless 1m x 1m x 1.60m ingot that would fit in a large freezer chest, they propose to remove millions of tonnes of earth, of which they plan leaving on Porcia’s riverbed 1,660,000 cubic meters originating from deposits of flotation tailings, an unbearable ecological burden that would leave the territory razed to the ground forever. And that is assuming that everything goes according to plan”.
- Texts adopted by the European Parliament: P9_TA(2024)0358 Surface water and groundwater pollutants European Parliament legislative resolution of 24 April 2024 on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2000/60/EC establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy, Directive 2006/118/EC on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration and Directive 2008/105/EC on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy (COM(2022)0540 – C9-0361/2022 – 2022/0344(COD)) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-9-2024-0358_EN.pdf
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589914724000227/pdfft?md5=96c18b61dc94d92e140dc654a4d20bb3&pid=1-s2.0-S2589914724000227-main.pdf
- Update of substances under EU monitoring (in Spanish): https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2023/749772/EPRS_BRI(2023)749772_EN.pdf
- Articles on the demonstration held in Tapia in April 2025 (in Spanish): Tapia sale a la calle contra el proyecto de la mina de oro El Comercio: Diario de Asturias; Masiva participación en la concentración del 19 de abril;
- Article on the fake support by the neighbourhood known as astroturfing (in Spanish): Astroturfing en la mina de Salave: ¿Respaldo vecinal o estrategia empresarial? – Nortes | Centradas en la periferia
- Article in regional press (2nd April 2025) (in Spanish): Evaristo Álvarez: “Una mina en Salave hipotecaría nuestro futuro y el de nuestros nietos” | Política | Cadena SER
- Article on the historical relevance of the Roman mine (in Spanish): Vista de Morteros mineros antiguos de la cala del Figo (Salave, Asturias) | Nailos
- Article on social division from 19 February 2025 (in Spanish): La mina de oro más grande de Europa está en España: la excavaron los romanos y divide un pueblo asturiano
- Photos of the result of the indiscriminate felling of indigenous trees by the mining company in April 2022 and the enormous damage done to the tracks and footpaths in the area.
