The Aratirí open-pit mine project in Uruguay: politics of time, local and national environmental resistance to an extractivist government priority

This article shows the importance of the “politics of time” for explaining the success of relatively weak environmental movements against mining projects. Through the analysis of the Aratirí open-pit mining project in Uruguay, the article shows that the politics of time worked in favor of the movement in two ways. First, since Uruguay was a latecomer in the regional open-pit mining context, social actors had important information that propitiated mistrust toward the project and was useful for coordinating actions and generating a common framework against it. Second, different actions of the movement were important in delaying the implementation of the mining project, contributing to its failure in a context of falling international iron ore prices. The empirical analysis is based on secondary data and 19 interviews with social and political actors.