Canada's Belo Sun touts procedural win but Brazil gold mine still on hold (updated)

Belo Sun Mining

12/07/2019 21:33

(Adds comment from public prosecutor, quote, details on the
mine)
    By Christian Plumb and Jake Spring
    SAO PAULO/Brasilia, July 12 (Reuters) - Belo Sun Mining Corp
 BSX.TO  said on Friday it had won a legal victory in its push
to mine the country's largest undeveloped gold deposit in the
Amazon rainforest, which has drawn criticism from
environmentalists and indigenous advocates.
    But the public prosecutor's office that is seeking to block
the mine disagreed with that interpretation of the ruling.
    Felicio Pontes, a federal prosecutor on the case, said the
appeals court had merely rejected a request for a preliminary
judgment and the merits of the case have yet to be judged.
    No work can proceed on the mine in the meantime, he said,
predicting that the court would rule in the case by November.
    "We tried to force a preliminary decision by the court ...
but it said no, it's better to wait for the judgment of the
appeal," Pontes said.
    "This ruling didn't change anything, the situation is
stable."
    A representative for Belo Sun acknowledged that "the
decision is only temporary."
    Belo Sun said in its statement that the appeals court ruling
indicated that the state of Para was the appropriate authority
to grant an environmental license for the project. Prosecutors
had argued that the mine needed a license from federal
environmental agency Ibama, winning an initial judgment in a
lower court.
    The Canadian miner has already received state licensing for
the project, adjacent to the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric
dam on a tributary of the Amazon river.
    If courts ultimately rule that Belo Sun must seek a federal
license, it would likely delay the project for years.
    Belo Sun shares fell 4.1% on the Toronto stock exchange,
wiping out early gains.
    The miner separately must still deliver a new study on the
impact on nearby indigenous communities of the project
    Brazilian nonprofit Instituto Socioambiental, which is
documenting the impact of the Belo Monte dam on nearby tribes,
has warned that the chemicals and mining waste involved in the
Belo Sun project pose serious risks to natives' way of life.
    Belo Sun's proposed mine in Volta Grande has 3.8 million
ounces of gold in proven and probable reserves and is the
country's largest undeveloped gold deposit, according to the
company's website.
    The company estimates the mine would produce 260,000 ounces
of gold annually over the first 10 years of its roughly 17-year
lifespan. That is equivalent to 5.2% of Brazil's annual
production of gold, according to the latest statistics from
mining regulator ANM.

 (Reporting by Christian Plumb in Sao Paulo and Jake Spring in
Brasilia
Editing by Susan Thomas and Jonathan Oatis)
 ((christian.plumb@thomsonreuters.com; (646) 223-5942; Reuters
Messaging: christian.plumb.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))