Ten new jobs, boosting local commerce in Monchique, taxes paid to the Chamber and the possibility of promoting the Algarve worldwide as «a hub for the exploitation of a “rare” raw material”. These are some of the alleged benefits listed in Environmental Impact Study (EIA), ordered by the Sifucel company, for the installation of a feldspar mine in the Serra de Monchique, in Corte Pequena.
However, these are arguments that do not convince the population, nor the mayor Rui André, who says that «the return of this activity to the municipality is inferior to the loss».
The process – and the arm wrestling between the company and the local authority – is a long one and began in 2010, when Sifucel submitted to the General Directorate of Energy and Geology a request for prospecting and researching feldspar, on land acquired by the company, which was accepted in 2011.
However, according to a clarification attached to the EIA, Sifucel, due to the «excessive delay that this procedural approach implied, without being able to move towards its exploitation in the medium term, and also pressured by the high demand of consumer industries», requested the extinction of the process and made a new request, but for experimental exploration, "which significantly shortens the time of the administrative procedure and the consequent start of production".
In the same document sent to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), it is said that Sifucel acquired, over several years, waste from the ornamental stone quarry in Monchique, Nave, «has carried out several industrial analyzes and tests» and concluded « be a raw material of high interest' for the glass and ceramic industries.
Therefore, “it would not make any sense to waste three or more years in a prospecting and research contract phase. On the other hand, and in terms of existing reservations in the requested area, the question did not arise either, since, in the location selected for the concession request, the reservations are visible to all».
Confronted with this content of the document, Rui André, speaking to the Sul Informação, comments that what is said “doesn't make sense, even because the type of stone existing in the Nave [where the quarry is located from where the samples were allegedly taken] and in that place [in the Small Court, on the other side of the mountain] is different . The prospecting and research work was done - and we have evidence - in the field, with machines, without authorization, and were embargoed by the Chamber and the CCDR». At that time, the Chamber brought a case to the Administrative Court of Loulé, which is still ongoing.
But the points of disagreement between the EIA and the Chamber of Monchique do not stop there. In the addendum to the EIA, it is written that, since 2013, the DGEG will have tried to schedule several meetings with the executive, an intention that was not answered, and that the documents sent to the autarchy to pronounce on the request for experimental exploration also did not have feedback of the Municipality.
«Due to the lack of response from the Municipality of Monchique, the DGEG ended up never commenting on the request for experimental exploration, which led Sifucel to decide to proceed with the preparation of an Environmental Impact Study», says the document.
These data are also denied by Rui André, who says he has never been contacted by the General Directorate of Energy and Geology on the issue.
Disagreements aside, the Environmental Impact Study allows us to understand some of the company's intentions in relation to the possible exploitation of this mine.
The document states that “the implementation of the project has benefits/advantages at three levels: local, regional and national. At the local level, the implementation of the project will allow the creation of jobs [ten], and it is planned to give priority to residents in the municipality of Monchique».
The implementation of the mine would also "contribute to the dynamization of local commerce", since, the company promises, "all the material for the correct functioning of the mine (parts for the equipment, material for the office, etc.) will be acquired locally'.
In addition, «if there is a road that passes through the company's land, the maintenance of the respective section will be under your responsibility, thus even reducing the costs of the Municipality with its maintenance. The company will also assume the taxes related to the industrial valorization of the lands to be explored, as well as the respective % of IRC and Spill, which implies more income for the City Council».
At a regional level, the promoters say that «the Algarve region will be publicized worldwide as a hub for the exploration of a “rare” raw material in the world, which are the nepheline syenites, which could make the county a destination for international investments in the industrial area”.
And at national level, «there will also be a significant positive economic impact», Sifucel «will pay royalties to the State, which can vary between 3 and 4% of the value of the ore at the “mouth of the mine”».
Even at an environmental level, the study commissioned by Sifucel managed to find benefits. According to the document, «the use of syenite as a feldspathic flux in the glass and ceramic industries leads to a significant reduction in the temperature of the melting point of the kilns, therefore leading to considerable energy savings in this process and hence to the consequent reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, thus making an unequivocal positive contribution to the problem of global warming”.
A very different perspective has the Monchiquense mayor. «Even if they create ten jobs, they destroy 100 in the area of Nature Tourism», guarantees Rui André, not convinced by the “wonders” that «XNUMXst century gold», as feldspar is called, will bring to the county.
According to the EIA, the mine is expected to be operated for 15 years, and the vast majority of its negative impacts on the landscape and influence on fauna and flora is therefore presented as “temporary”.
Since the possibility arose of the mine being located in Corte Pequena, a REN area, Rede Natura and in a catchment protection perimeter, Rui André guarantees that the operation will affect the water supply to the village of Alferce, due to its proximity the place where the collection takes place.
However, the EIA manages to find a way of also denying that this can happen: "in relation to possible interference with public supply catchments, it has no possibility of occurring, not only due to the maximum depth at which exploration is planned, to along which it will not interfere with any aquifer, but also because of the accentuated relief of the entire Serra de Monchique, whose discontinuities of the different rock masses prevent any direct or indirect interference between them».
On the other hand, the document adds, the "exploitation will not generate any waste other than the remains of rocks or earth that exist on the site and will not use any polluting product that could interfere with the quality of rainwater that comes to infiltrate into the soil. It is thus demonstrated that there is also no impact with regard to the concern expressed in this point”.
In terms of visual impacts, the promoters say they will plant vegetation to «create a dense tree curtain, minimizing the visual impact on the village of Alferce». This is, in fact, a legal obligation both in mines and in quarries, but, as anyone who has been to Monchique knows, this does not mean that it is fulfilled, much less that it is an effective measure in terms of landscape.
Also “the structures associated with the industrial equipment should be green in color, thus integrating in chromatic terms into the surrounding landscape”.
Although the area under concession to Sifucel is 17,35 hectares, to explore around three thousand tons of rock, the exploration area will be 5,9 hectares.
This measure was taken “in order to minimize the impacts on fauna and flora”.
In the conclusions of the non-technical report of the EIA, it is explained that nepheline syenite has «chemical characteristics and mineralogical composition aimed mainly at the glass industry, and that it can also be applied in other industries, namely ceramics, glue cements, plasters, casting and paints'.
The EIA assumes that «the exploitation of geological resources is always contested by the populations and by environmental associations», but these «should be seen as scarce, non-renewable and essential goods for the most varied types of industry».
Regarding the negative impacts of the mine, "but not significant and minimisable, they occur at the level of the PDM, since the mine area is located in a forest area" and, "according to this article, exploration is not contemplated of metallic and non-metallic mineral resources'.
However, the document continues, «the alteration to the space class resulting from the mine will be temporary, resuming forest use after the mine recovery, as proposed in the Environmental Recovery Plan».
Regarding the existing public utility restrictions (REN and Capture Protection Perimeter), the promoters say that these “are safeguarded through the minimization measures proposed in the EIA”.
The exploration of the mine, to be authorized, will be carried out in phases, and, according to the document, «at the end of the exploration, the entire area will be completely recovered, thus minimizing all the significant negative impacts caused on the landscape».
This is a point that also raises doubts for the Municipality of Monchique, since Rui André says that he is “fed up with bad examples of quarries in the municipality that destroy the landscape and do not recover it”.
The Environmental Impact Study is under public consultation until 17 May and the municipality guarantees that it is working with technicians to take a position, which will always be unfavorable to the exploitation of feldspar in the municipality.
«I will do everything in my power so that the mine does not advance. If necessary, within my competence, I place a traffic sign prohibited to heavy vehicles on the road that serves the place, so that trucks cannot reach it. If these “XNUMXst century gold miners” manage to “overcome everything” to move forward with this project, I will have to use my weapons», concludes the mayor, in good style western.
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