Mining will now be allowed in areas surrounding glaciers near the Andes mountains after the Lower House approved modifications to a law that protects those ice masses. The change gives provinces the power to decide over potential mining projects in those regions.

The proposal passed in the early hours of Thursday with 137 votes in favor, 111 against and three abstentions.

Among those who backed the provision filed by President Javier Milei were not only lawmakers from the ruling libertarian party and their usual Congress allies, but also deputies from provinces rich in lithium and copper that will be benefitted by the changes — San Juan, Catamarca, Jujuy, Salta and Mendoza. 

Some of those deputies that supported the bill are from the hard-line opposition, including two Peronists from San Juan.

The bill had already been greenlit by the Senate in February, which was followed by an intense commissions debate in the Chamber of Deputies.

The original glaciers law, which has now been modified, was approved in 2010 with the goal of establishing the minimum conditions for an ice formation to be considered a glacier or a periglacial area — which is a portion of frozen mountain land that can defrost depending on the season.

While the Argentine........

© Buenos Aires Herald