Conflictos socioambientales en torno a la megaminería metalífera a cielo abierto. El caso de la provincia de San Juan entre los años 2003-2013

The purpose of this research is to investigate the characteristics of the socioenvironmental conflicts surrounding open-pit mining in Argentina in the last decades from the case study of the province of San Juan. In our country, as in the region, socioenvironmental conflicts multiplied, in recent years, within the framework of a neo-extractivist model of development in the which the frontiers of exploitation of the common goods of nature expanded. In this context, the national and subnetional States, accompanied the process of implementation of extractive megaprojects based on regulatory deregulation and the establishment of alliances with transnational companies dedicated to the explotation of strategic resources.

In this scenario, the province of San Juan became early, in a unique experience in the process of expansion of the open-pit mining in Argentina. From the minig policy implemented by the provincial government, it became a reference for other subnational governments that set out to develop the activity. Temporary, this investigation concentrates between the years 2003 - 2013 period of greagter expansion of the open-pit mining in San Juan, which coincides with the consolidation of the mining policy implemented from the provincial State. In this period, the  conflict crossed different stages, some of greater expressions, and others, where it remained in astate of latency.