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There's gold in them thar Central American hills. Gold and several other valuable minerals. Mining companies, especially Canadian, are courting the region yet most of the governments are playing hard to get, if not being openly hostile.

Henan Hongxing Mining Machinery Co., Ltd is a joint-stock mining machinery manufacturing enterprise integrated in scientific research, production and marketing. It is located at the High & New Technology Industries Development Zone of Zhengzhou,China with an area of 50 thousand m2 which includes 15,000 m2 of standard heavy duty industrial workshop. Equipments are more than 160 pieces, including large and medium sized metal processing, riveting and installing equipments. There are more than 660 workers including 80 administrators with secondary and senior occupational titles and engineering technicians. In order to promote the competitive strength, the advanced technologies have been introduced from America, Germany, Japan and Australia, which established the international advanced production line, first-class modern testing base as well as research centers of sand maker, mill and mine-selecting equipment. Scientific management, advanced processing technology and innovative manufacturing theory make the company become the mining machinery manufacturing and exporting base in China.

All of which must be pretty perplexing to at least some of the companies. World prices of metals remain high while Central American economies are some of the world’s most vulnerable. Surely a slam-dunk for the miners?

Not so, however, in several Central American countries. Nor does opposition to mining appear to be linked with political ideology. El Salvador’s president, Mauricio Funes, has suspended all mining operations. He is a left-winger.

But his order simply continued the policies of his predecessor and political reival, Antonio Saca, a right-winger. Under Saca, El Salvador shut down a major project led by Canada’s Pacific Rim which has protested the decision under international arbitration.

Legal costs in the case are understood to amount to $5m, a substantial amount for a fragile economy, and the Funes administration is footing the bill.

Costa Rica’s president, Laura Chinchilla, has opposed her predecessor, Oscar Arias, who backed an open-cast project of Canada’s Infinito Gold. Arias backed Infinito, but Chinchilla – a member of the same political party – is firmly opposed to it.

Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega is the most visibly left-wing leader in Central America. “El Comandante” is a friend of Cuba’s Castro brothers from way back and a warm admirer of the “21st century socialism” of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

Yet he is more than happy to accept the investments of the mining capitalists. So too, of course, is Ricardo Martinelli, the president of Panama. Martinelli, owner of a supermarket chain, wants Canada’s Inmet Mining to succeed with its $5bn Cobre Panamá copper project.

But the project has faced violent protests that were renewed early this week as talks broke down between legislators and the indigenous protesters.

Opposition is likely to face a new mining law in Honduras and the first measures on the industry to be announced by the new president of Guatemala, Otto Pérez, a retired general.

Indeed opposition to mining in the region has been a leitmotif of resistance by society at large – with the support of their governments in some cases – to perceived threats to the environment.

The miners, of course, argue that their investments will bolster the environment of the host nations. But, like the Beatles, the response of their opponents is to sing, not the Internationale, but “Can’t Buy Me Love”.

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