At the meeting, the mayors of Manciano and Capalbio were present. After a lively debate, the meeting voted unanimously to�: commit the public authorities at local, provincial and regional level to adopt a policy to oppose the granting of licences for research and subsequent opening of this mine" (transl. from Italian). The vote was unanimous with one abstention. Italia Nostra, Fondo Ambiente Italia are among the organizations that have presented their condemnation of this project to the regional authorities of Tuscany.
Overwhelming Reasons for Stopping the Licences: Landscape/Tourism: The area is one of the remaining areas of Tuscany with a low density population and rolling hillsides and thus retains it native forest. Agriculture is in harmony with this forest. It is popular with the natureloving tourist, and is not far from the spa of Saturnia. Tourism in the widest sense accounts for a good 50% of GDP according to some estimates. Medical: Antimony dust can cause lung cancer, and there have been cases of early death from previous mining in the area. Contaminated water could enter the potable waterways. Why did the Chinese shut
their operations down? Not only for economic reasons but also for environmental and medical ones. Studies show that long-term inhalation of antimony can lead to lung cancer, altered electrocardiograms, vomiting, possible though not proved infant death syndrome. Chronic exposure can cause irritation in the eyes, skin and lungs. Environmental/Agriculture: The exploratory drilling (Phase 1) involves concrete plugs after drilling which would effectively reduce available water by 15% and ruin the terrain for agriculture. Phase 2 would introduce a much more hazardous situation which would seriously jeopardise biodiversity, flora and fauna. Mining