Despite persistent rain, the mobilization gathered numerous citizens and representatives from riverside municipalities, who expressed their strong rejection of the mining waste discharge plans. The protest, which started from the Capilla del Carmen de Bajo de Guía to San Juan Street, was supported by the Sanlúcar Fishermen's Guild, the 'Save the Guadalquivir' platform, Ecologistas en Acción, and Greenpeace.
The conflict centers on the reactivation of mining activity in the province of Seville, which foresees the extraction of 76 million tons of mineral over 17 years. The main concern is the plan to discharge nearly 120 billion liters of wastewater into the Guadalquivir River, which protesters consider an existential threat to the river's biodiversity and food security.
“"The port of Bonanza represents the second most important fishing engine in Andalusia, so any alteration in water quality would be a lethal blow to the local economy."
During the march, spokespersons for the organizing entities demanded an immediate moratorium on authorizations and the creation of an independent expert committee to rigorously evaluate the potential impacts on health and the ecosystem. The mayor of Sanlúcar, who led the institutional representation, recalled the ecological disaster of 1998 and highlighted the importance of the Bonanza port for the Andalusian fishing economy.
Following the rejection of its allegations by the Junta de Andalucía, the city council has announced it will take the case to the Environmental Prosecutor's Office. This legal action seeks to protect the estuary against what municipal authorities consider an administrative decision that ignores the real risks of large-scale mining activity near a fragile ecosystem like the Guadalquivir.
