Pascua Lama

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Pascua-Lama is a project involving open pit mining of a field of gold, silver and copper in the high mountains south of Atacama on the border between Chile and Argentina at an altitude of over 4,500 metres. It has been the cause of controversy and public protest in Chile, including demonstrations and petitions presented to the Chilean government. As of 2006, work has yet to commence.

The field contains deposits of 17 million ounces of gold and 635 million ounces of silver,^[1] with 75 percent of the deposits in Chile and 25 percent in Argentina.^[2] It lies under two glaciers which currently feed the rivers of the Huasco Province.

1 Legal background
2 History of the project
3 Controversy over the project's environmental and economic consequences
4 Electronic mail chain letter
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links

[edit] Legal background

The project became possible with the adoption by Chile and Argentina of the Mining Integration and Complementation Treaty, signed by the presidents of Chile and Argentina in 1997 and ratified by their legislatures in 2000. This treaty permits investors to explore and exploit mineral deposits that straddle the border between the two countries.^[3] In 2000, an appeal was filed with the Chilean Constitutional Court to rule the treaty unconstitutional.^[3] Alcayaga, Luna, and Padilla, analyzing the treaty, have concluded that, "both in terms of content and form, [it] contains provisions that violate Chile's constitution".^[4] ^[5]

[edit] History of the project

The mining project is organized by the Barrick Gold corporation, which plans to invest US$1.5 billion over 20 years in it^[6] and projects an annual output of 750,000 ounces of gold and 30 million ounces of silver in the first five years.^[1]

Barrick has been planning the project for several years. It performed its first studies of the glaciers in 1991, purchased the Chañarcillo estate at the location via an affiliate (Empresa Nevada) in 1997, and published an environmental impact report in 2000, which was approved by COREMA, the regional environment authority, in 2001.^[1]

Barrick's plans for the project have changed over time. In June 2005, Barrick intended to commence building in January 2006, after responding to a questionnaire put to it by CONAMA, the Chilean government's national environment commission.^[1] However, in November 2005, the company published a report stating that it had scrapped its original plans, presented in December 2004, for "transplanting" three glaciers in order to gain access to the deposits beneath them, moving them to another glacier with which they were to bond.^[2] This change was publicly supported by Fernando González, the chairman of the council of Huasco Valley farmers.

Barrick intends to commence building on September 2006 with extraction operations beginning in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Controversy over the project's environmental and economic consequences

Those protesting the project contend that the project will involve the removal of 20 hectares of ice, a volume of 300,000 to 800,000 cubic metres, and that this will cause serious environmental harm. They also contend that the project will affect the water supply of the 70,000 farmers in the Huasco valley, releasing cyanide and mercury into the valley's rivers^[3], that the company has bought the support of the famers with "social assistance" and promises of US$60 million for infrastructure work^[1], and that the Mining Integration and Complementation Treaty was adopted under pressure from Barrick.^[3] In November 2005, a petition of 18,000 signatures was presented to the Chilean government by the Anti Pascua Lama Front, a coalition of environmentalist groups.^[2]

Barrick Gold contends that the project is environmentally friendly in terms of water treatment, and that the project will create 5,000 direct jobs during the mine's production phase.^[2] It contends that underground mining methods are not economically feasible for the mine, only open pit methods.^[3] It maintains that 5 hectares of "ice reserves" will be removed by its operations and that another 10 hectares will melt as a consequence.^{[citation needed]} It states that its US$1.5 billion investment "would be directly invested in the Huasco province in Chile and San Juan province in Argentina", that it has "identified more than 600 potential suppliers from Chile’s Region III" in pursuance of its policy of sourcing local goods and services, and that "sustainable development projects have been and will continue to be a priority for funding to the tune of millions of dollars focused in the areas of education, health, infrastructure and agricultural improvement".^[6]

[edit] Electronic mail chain letter

This project is the subject of an online petition, circulating as a chain letter by electronic mail, imploring the Chilean government to prevent the project from obtaining authorization because of the environmental and social consequences of the mining operation. According to analysis by Snopes, the main point of the petition is valid, but does contain some misleading passages.^[7]

Barrick has published a response (see ^[6]) countering many of the statements made in the chain letter.