A cargo of mercury from the Veladero mine has arrived in Chile

Five trucks that have been carrying 100 tons of mercury from the Veladero mine in San Juan since Wednesday have entered Chile and traveled to the port of Valparaíso, where dangerous goods will be sent to Switzerland. Argentina is thus entering a global stage under the Minamata Convention, which regulates the management of toxic waste. Mercury is used in the extraction of gold, activity carried out in Veladero by the company Barrick. The initiative of the Environmental Nation Secretariat has been criticized by environmentalists, who have even filed a criminal complaint.

But according to the Secretariat, the trucks completed the customs procedure in Jama Pbad, Jujuy, and were already on their way to Valparaíso. According to official information, "the operation is underway and we can guarantee success".

The cargo consists of 48 large bottles of liquid mercury in four large trucks; A truck, four trucks and vehicles as well as security agents complete the caravan that transports the metal from the San Juan Veladero mine to the Chilean port.

From there, mercury will be transported by ship to Switzerland – after crossing the ports of Peru, Panama, the Bahamas, the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium and France – where a process of solidification will be carried out to be driven to its final destination in one of the five salt mines that Germany has.

"This is the first case of hazardous waste under the Minamata Convention in the world, we know we are being observed, but we are confident in the success of the process," said Under-Secretary Juan Trebino. Environmental Control and Recomposition and Sustainable Development of the Nation. The Minamata Convention is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of mercury. It establishes procedures for the temporary storage of this metal and its disposal once it becomes a waste. Mercury is harmful to humans by inhalation, ingestion and contact. But as it adheres to the gold, it is used for the extraction of the precious metal, with which it forms an amalgam which is then separated by an evaporation process.

Trebino hopes that those who spoke "pavadas" will be retracted. He implicitly referred to the environmentalists in the region, such as the geographer Marcelo Giraud of the National University of Cuyo and the Water Assembly of Mendoza, who had questioned the accumulation of this pollutant and his out of the country by Chile and not for an Argentine port. The latter, however, would have resulted in a much larger land transfer. Trebino said that neither he nor the Secretary of the Environment, Sergio Bergman, are charged or summoned by a complaint filed in federal court: "no charges are laid against anyone", he declared. And regarding the decision to remove waste from the Pacific ports, he explained that it is not easy to find a freight company specializing in this type of freight, and that the contracted company operates from Chile. But he felt that if it had been possible to leave Buenos Aires or Bahía Blanca, Chile would have chosen it because it is a shorter and safer route, because the Atlantic alternative involves crossing the whole of the country. country, with more frequented routes and busier routes. more populated.

Enrique Viale, an environmental protection lawyer and Jachal's water representative, told the court that the Veladero mine had generated and stored 440 tonnes of mercury near the rivers, where several Argentinian provinces were supplied with water. drinking. Part of this hazardous waste is the one that left yesterday in Chile. The cause of mercury is dealt with by the criminal court of Claudio Bonadío. At the end of last year, prosecutor Alejandra Mangano accused Sergio Bergman for alleged breach of duty by a public official.

"The accumulation of mercury is a time bomb, the Veladero mine is located in the basin of the river Desaguadero and can contaminate all its tributaries," said environmentalist Viale.