Colombian town votes to block local mining by multinational

Almost all voting residents of the district of Piedras in the central Colombian department of Tolima voted on 28 July to block the continued activities of the mining firm Anglo Gold Ashanti (AGA) after deciding they threatened local water supplies, the review Semana reported. It observed this was the first such vote in Colombia, one of several Latin American countries where mining activities have angered local populations. Just over 5,100 residents of Piedras were eligible to vote and 3,007 did, with 2,971 voting against the firm's continued activity and 24 voting in favour, Semana reported. The review observed that local opposition to the firm began in early 2013 with protests against a gold processing centre in nearby Doima whose activity it was thought would use millions of litres of water needed for farming. An AGA spokeswoman was reported on 18 July as telling W Radio in Bogotá that the firm's activities used a small part of local water supplies and AGA did not in any case need permission to continue working, apparently responding to a suspension order from a regional environmental authority Cortolima. The mayor of Piedras organised the vote after consulting with Tolima's Administrative Court and according to Semana, the results were binding pursuant to the Law 134 of 1994. There was no immediate consensus on this however as authorities in Bogotá were reported elsewhere not to recognise municipal authority over mining affairs. El Espectador reported on 28 July that the Mines Ministry had decreed on 9 May that local bodies could not vote or decide on mining affairs, such decisions pertaining to national mining and environmental authorities. Residents of Piedras believed the decree did not supercede the vote, which was a participatory mechanism foreseen in Colombian legislation, El Espectador reported.