Another blow to Ascendant Exploration was delivered this past Friday August 27th, when five communities in the Junin area definitely rejected Ascendant’s offer to improve the roads into the communities. As a result of the decision, the company was forced to withdraw their equipment and leave the area.
Representatives from the communities of Chalguayacu Alto, Chalguayacu Bajo, Junin, Chontal Alto and La Armenia, together with the board of the Community Development Council met with Captain Nelson Moreno, representative of Ascendant Exploration in Intag, and unequivocally rejected the company’s offer to improve the roads into all the communities in exchange of support for the mining project. The communities will now pressure to have this overdue road work done by the provincial government, as it is their responsibility.
Meanwhile in a recent version of the Ascendant web page overview section the company is publishing misleading information leading readers to believe the company has started advanced exploration activities in the area of the concession ("drilling", according to the site). This could not be further from the truth, as the company does not even have the environmental impact study necessary to start exploratory activities, and the community of Junin has blocked all attempts for the company to go into their lands, which is where most of their concessions are found (Golden 1 and Golden 2). Without going into the area, there is no legal way to do an environmental impact study (operative word "legal").
