Socio-territorial effects of mega mining and social reaction: the case of Minera Alumbrera in the province of Catamarca, Argentina

This article addresses the implementation of large-scale mining projects and their social and spatial effects in the Argentinian province of Catamarca. A case study was carried out in the town of Andalgala, located within the area of operation of the open-pit mining project Bajo la Alumbrera. Interviews were made with various stakeholders affected by the project with the objective to analyze, on one side, different dimensions of socio-territorial transformations provoked by the project, and, on the other side, the civil society-based movement which emerged in reaction to it and namely the role played by women. The article concludes that the benefits of the mega project are weak and poorly redistributed, that the inequalities have been reinforced at different scales, and that women have been important protagonists of the social movement triggered by the opposition to the project.