"What's worse is to die of hunger sitting on top of such an opportunity?,?" Bautista says.An organized oppositionWhen Pacific Rim arrived,it brought "a more visible face" to mining, says Bautista. From building walls around a school to donating jerseys to sports teams to offering adult literacy courses, giving back was a key tenet. "We really benefited from the social work," the mayor says.
Pacific Rim, however, was also drilling more than 670 holes – up to 2,300 feet in length, across a 34-square-mile exploration zone.The results of that drilling lie stacked in long, rectangular boxes packed into six large shelters behind Pacific Rim's offices. The samples look like giant pieces of sidewalk chalk in shades of gray and brown.It wasn't long before stories about the effects of drilling started drifting through the department. The company says it received four complaints from local mayors: two about wells drying up, and two about cattle that died after construction-related accidents. Bill Gehlen, vice president of exploration, says the issues were resolved.But some nongovernmental organizations and community members claim there were more problems. Property was reportedly damaged, such as fences cut by drill teams and geologists http://www.mmodiy.com/