Río Negro: Law Banning Cyanide and Mercury Use in Mining is Vacated. New Environmental Regulation

Law 3,981 prohibited the use of cyanide and mercury in metal mineral extraction, exploitation and/or industrialization processes in the Province of Rio Negro. As from January 5, 2012, said ban has been lifted, since Law 4,738 has expressly vacated Law 3,981.

In addition, Law 4,738 has established a number of environmental regulations applicable to mining activity; namely:

1. It constitutes the Provincial Council for Mining Environmental Assessment (Consejo Provincial de Evaluación Ambiental Minera or Co.P.E.A.M.), to be controlled by the Mining and Hydrocarbon Undersecretariat of the Province of Rio Negro, whose duty is to assess environmental impact studies resulting from mining activity in the Province of Rio Negro.
2. It provides the following stages for the Environmental Impact Assessment proceedings: (i) Environmental Impact Study; (ii) Technical Report; (iii) Provincial Environmental Council Report; and (iv) Public hearing.
3. It stipulates that the Environmental Impact Studies will be deemed as affidavits, signed by qualified professionals –for each subject correspondingly- registered in logs created to such end.