The fever for critical minerals in the face of natural spaces: the case of Gorno

Mining exploration in Italy encroaches on a part of the Natura 2000 network as control over these protected areas weakens.
In the central bar of the small mountain village of Gorno, in northern Italy, there are hardly any people. A few bikers stop briefly, resting on the plastic tables outside before continuing their journey through the valley. It is there that Angelo Borroni, a civil engineer and founder of the Orobie Vive group, says as he points to a place on an old map he has brought with him: “Hit the zinc while it is hot.”
What Borroni points out, while pronouncing the Italian version and modified for the occasion of the saying ‘a hot iron, beat suddenly’, is the site of the mining exploitation for the extraction of zinc, lead and silver for which the Australian Altamin, a company that operates in this territory through its subcontractors Alta Zinc and Vedra Metals, has obtained permission. “This is where they want to do it,” he says, running his finger over the map, “but so far, no one knows anything.”

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