Another setback for Barrick's troubled Pascua-Lama gold mine
Since the Barrick Gold Corp. project moved in, residents of El Corral, a small town in the foothills of the Andes, claim river levels have dropped, the water is murky and some complain of health problems. Chile's environmental regulator has fined Barrick $16-million and halted development until a water management system is completed.
Workers walk near the entrance of Barrick Gold Corp.’s Pascua-Lama gold mine in northern Chile, near the border of Argentina, May 23, 2013. Chile’s environmental regulator blocked the $8.5-billion project on May 24 and imposed its maximum fine on the world’s largest gold miner, citing “very serious” violations of its environmental permit.JORGE SAENZ/The Associated Press
Security officers walk away from the entrance of the Pascua-Lama facilities.JORGE SAENZ/The Associated Press
Farmer Juana Lopez shows a tumour growing inside her mouth, in El Corral, a small town of about 200 inhabitants, mostly from the Diaguita ethnic group, near the Pascua-Lama project, May 23, 2013. Lopez blames her health problem on contamination of the water caused by the mining project.JORGE SAENZ/The Associated Press
Mining trucks sit parked on the facilities May 23, 2013. The project, pegged to cost $1.5-billion back in 2004, is now expected to cost $8-billion.Jorge Saenz/The Associated Press
The village of El Corral is located just downstream from the Pascua-Lama project, the world’s highest gold mine. Since the Barrick project moved in, residents claim river levels have dropped, the water is murky in some places, and some complain of cancerous growths and aching stomachs.Jorge Saenz/The Associated Press
A gold processing plant under construction in Argentina is pictured in this Feb. 2, 2012 handout photo obtained by Reuters. The plant, which will process 45,000 tons of ore per day, is nearly two kilometres in length.Supplied/Reuters
Mining machinery and barrels filled with chemicals sit on the facilities of Barrick’s Pascua-Lama project, May 23, 2013.JORGE SAENZ/The Associated Press
Peter Munk, founder and chairman of Barrick Gold Corp., is photographed in front of a map pinpointing the Pascua Lama project at the company’s annual general meeting in Toronto April 24, 2013.FERNANDO MORALES/The Globe and Mail
Pascua-Lama mine construction.Supplied
Lettering on a sign above an effigy of a worker reads, in Spanish, “This is my family,” at the entrance of the Pascua-Lama project May 23, 2013.JORGE SAENZ/The Associated Press
El Corral village leader Yovana Paredes, 40, and a neighbour look at a chicken carcass found by their neighbour on his morning rounds. The neighbour believes the chicken died from drinking contaminated water.JORGE SAENZ/The Associated Press
Ms. Paredes gathers herbs along the banks of the Estrecho River, in the foothills of the Andes, where for as long as anyone can remember residents have drunk straight from the glacier-fed river that irrigates their orchards and vineyards with clean water.JORGE SAENZ/The Associated Press
The message on a water tank in El Corral reads “No Pascua-Lama.”JORGE SAENZ/The Associated Press