Gold is one of the most valuable metals in the world, it has been used since ancient times for the manufacture of ornaments and jewellery.
The value is currently very high due to its scarcity, since most of the metal is found in the Earth ‘s core and is extracted by the force of water during earthquakes.
The largest gold reserve in Europe is in Spain but, despite the fact that several projects have been put forward to extract the metal, to date none have gone ahead.
Spain’s great gold reserve
This reserve is located in Tapia de Casariego (Asturias). It is estimated that under the Salave lagoons there could be 30 tons of gold, a figure that would represent 10% of the gold reserves held by the Bank of Spain. The ore has remained intact for more than 2,000 years, without anyone daring to touch it.
Opinions are divided in the town about whether it is a good idea to extract the gold with opponents to its extraction creating the ‘Oro No’ association, almost two decades ago.
People in the area live from livestock, fishing and the tourism sector. With the exploitation of the mine, the heavy metals coming extracted would affect all these sectors, not to mention the impact on the landscape impact that it would provide, which would then reduce tourism by creating a negative perception of the area”, a representative of the association told the news website ‘Infobae’.
However, the ‘Idoa’ association is in favour of mining, stating that it could create many jobs in the area and stimulate the local economy: “It is necessary to settle the population and the best way is to generate industry, so that young people do not go to work in other places”, Mada Gómez, the president, explained.
The company Exploraciones Mineras del Cantábrico (EMC) has made a request to exploit the deposit, stating that there will be no impact on the environment. Although the first few months might be a little rough, the drilling and mining will be “minimally invasive.”
“The project is currently awaiting environmental assessment so now we have to wait until bureaucracy does its work. A completely different project has been presented that has got around the environmental impact problems identified in the past, such as the one that affected the water”, the company states, according to the newspaper ’20minutos’.
