Secret mining studies and private deals: is a new gold rush quietly starting in El Salvador?

A large mural of anti-mining activist Dora Sorto on the wall of a farm in Cabañas – she was eight months pregnant when she was murdered in 2009. All photographs by Euan Wallace Photograph: The Guardian

Set off the main road through San Isidro, El Salvador, an old gate sits locked by a chain. Across its rusted metal wire mesh are emblazoned the words: “Private property, entry forbidden.” A bus stop outside is covered with faded black and yellow posters. Though peeling with age, their message can still be read: “No to mining – yes to life.”

This is the site of what was once the El Dorado gold mining project. After the suspension of operations in 2009 amid community backlash, OceanaGold formally closed the project in 2017 following El Salvador’s historic prohibition of metal mining.