ICE Expanding Work
Force By 6.000
Arias Signs
Hydroelectric Water Concessions
INS Expands
Vehicle and Homeowners Insurance Coverage
Low Vitamin D
Linked to Severe Asthma, Study Shows
Patti
Blagojevich Asked To Do Costa Rica Reality
Show In Rod's Place
Abangares Proposes
Mining Tourism Project
Abangares
Proposes Mining Tourism Project
(InfoWebPress) – The Municipality of
Abangares is putting its support behind a
project to create a National Mining Tourism
Program.
The proposal was made before the Popular
Initiative Office once it was approved by
the local municipal council.
The initiative defines mining tourism as
“any activity that seeks to revalue, promote
or obtain knowledge about mining sites,
areas and geological regions through the
exploration of active mines on foot or
utilizing transportation means that adapt to
the characteristics of those sites, and
which is closely tied to scientific,
paleontological, archaeological and
geological tourism.”
The proposal calls for the creation of a
National Mining Tourism Program within the
Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), so that
an adequate regulatory framework can be in
place.
Later on, tourism officials would review
existing mining tourism resources and others
that could be established in the future. The
initiative would create a mechanism for
cooperation among institutions, both with
the central government and local
governments.
“This proposal would become a key and
necessary tool, as it provides a systematic
and uniform framework for this kind of
tourism activity,” the Abangares
Municipality argued in its proposal.
The proposal also calls for “an important
revalorization of production sites, regions
and geological regions through the business
of tourism, allowing for diversification of
tourism options.”
The Abangares canton has a rich mining
history, including mines such as the Tres
Hermanos, Boston and Gongolona, located in
the community of Sierra — one of the most
important gold sites in Costa Rica.
“We seek to rescue the mining sites still
existing throughout the country, in various
cantons and provinces, which have been
abandoned following resources exploitation
for many years, and others that are still
being mined, but in an inhumane manner,”
said Gerardo Cascante, a council member at
the Municipality of Abangares.
Abangares was home to the largest mining
activity in the history of Costa Rica. The
main mining district was La Sierra de
Abangares, where U.S. industrialist Minor
Cooper Keith built the gold-processing plant
of his company, Abangares Gold Fields of
Costa Rica. Another Abangares district where
gold extraction was very important is Las
Juntas.
Even though mining yielded large sums of
capital for Cooper Keith, in 1931 his
company abandoned the region due to the
Great Depression and the scarcity of gold
fields.
In order to commemorate the Guanacaste
canton’s mining history, the Abangares Mine
Ecomuseum was founded in 1991 at the site of
the old gold-processing plant — thus
rescuing buildings and equipment that were
used during the golden age of Costa Rica’s
gold rush.
|
|
|
|
|
