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.

But 10 months after hardline President Nayib Bukele’s administration repealed this prohibition, environmentalists fear that El Dorado may become one of the key sites in the re-emergence of mining interests in the country – a political movement they say is being obscured by state secrecy.

In January, El Salvador’s energy directorate announced that government mining studies will remain “trade secrets”, blocking public access to data relating to metal mining in the country. Although no new mining projects have been officially announced, activists worry they are proceeding behind closed doors.