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Actualizado: Aug 8th, 2005 - 13:55:36 |
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| Andean gold mine risks environmental damage
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By
Jun 6, 2005, 09:15 |
Canadian mining multinational Barrick Gold is facing pressure to redesign a $1.5 billion gold mine in the Chilean Andes to avoid damaging three nearby glaciers
The Pascua Lama open-cast mine, which will straddle Chile's Region III in Atacama and Argentina's San Juan Province, was approved by Chile's environment ministry in 2001. But it faces a number of further environmental hurdles if it is to start operating as planned next year.
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Barrick Gold must respond to a request by a regional environment commission to consider moving part of its proposed mine underground so as to preserve the threatened glaciers.
The commission's report also states that Barrick has provided insufficient information on subterranean water flows and plans for the treatment of run-off water.
The company is applying for an extension to the commission's tight timetable to prepare its response.
"We will be responding in a thorough, professional and comprehensive fashion and it will take time - in the order of months - due to the highly technical nature of the exchange and the amount of infomation," said Barrick spokesman Vince Borg.
In 2004, the company filed a revised and expanded version of the project to both the Chilean and Argentine governments. The revisions included a bigger pit boundary and removal of 816,000 cubic metres of ice from three small glaciers onto another glacier.
'Brutal development'
A coalition of environmental groups, however, are objecting altogether to the proposed open-cast operations.
"The Pascua project is a symbol, a brutal example, of the type of economic development that Chile is pursuing. We intend to mobilise to raise awareness throughout the country so that this project can not be installed here," said Marcel Claude, director of Oceana, a Chilean environmental pressure group.
Members of the Anti Pascua Lama Front coalition are doubtful that the mining giant will agree to the more costly underground option.
"The mineral here is not in veins. It's dispersed over a wide area, so an underground mine is not economically or technically feasible," coalition spokesperson Lucio Cuenca told news agency Reuters.
Barrick has previously stated that its glacier management plan will conserve run-off water in the valley where the mine will be built.
Again, environmentalists fear the worst. "The whole valley would be destroyed due to water shortages and pollution if this project is approved," the Anti Pascua Lama Front said.
Development fund
The news comes less than a month after Barrick announced the creation of a sustainable development fund of $10 million to promote social and economic projects in the Atacama region.
The fund is designed to support health, education, infrastructure, community security and culture programmes.
"This initiative responds to the global policy of Barrick to work under a responsible mining policy that focuses on the health of our workers, protects the environment and encourages social and economic development in the communities near to our operations," the company's vice-president for the region, John McDonough, told Chile's La Nacion newspaper.
However, average income in the Frontera District, where the mine is situated, remains 25% lower than Chile's national average. This gives campaigners such as Marcel Claude continued cause for concern.
"This mining company has operated for more than 30 years in the region and made investment worth more than $2 billion, yet the region continues to be one of the poorest in the country," Claude said.
If developed, Pascua Lama mine is expected to have a 21 year life-span with estimated total reserves of oxide and sulphide ores amounting to 17.6 million ounces.
Barrick submitted an environmental impact assessment to the Argentine authorities in San Juan last November. They are also continuing to question the proposals.
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