The world’s largest gold and silver mine project will not materialize. Thursday, September 17, the Chilean justice ordered the Canadian group Barrick Gold, the second largest producer of gold in the world, to abandon the construction work of Pascua Lama, a gigantic open pit mine, located on the border between Argentina and Chile. . The environmental court in Antofagasta (northern Chile) confirmed a decision by the government environmental agency from 2018, finding that the company had repeatedly violated environmental standards. Barrick Gold will also have to pay a fine of 7 billion Chilean pesos (7.8 million euros).
Begun in 2009, the work of Pascua Lama, in a mountainous area located at 4,500 meters above sea level, had been suspended since 2013 due to irregularities, including the discharge of contaminated water into a river on the Chilean side of the cordillera. of the Andes and a system for monitoring the environmental impacts of mining – in particular on glaciers – deemed insufficient by the Chilean justice.
To respect the environment
After the 2018 decision, the mining group announced that it wanted to turn to underground mining, which pollutes less. “But it was obviously a more expensive option, and immediately less interesting for the company”, points out Pia Marchegiani, director of environmental policy at the Argentine Foundation for the Environment and Natural Resources (FARN), who denounces the behavior “Not very transparent and the past very negative” of the Barrick Gold group.
“We have always insisted with companies on the fact that it is possible to carry out mining activities, but respecting the environment and respecting the institutions”, reacted Thursday, September 17, on Twitter, Chilean Mining Minister Baldo Prokurica. Mining activity is particularly developed in Chile, the world’s largest producer of copper, and is one of the engines of its economy.
“Mining is better regulated in Chile and, in fact, all the obstacles to this project came from the Chilean side”, underlines Pia Marchegiani, who indicates that in Argentina, federal country, “Local authorities tend to turn a blind eye to environmental issues and encourage this type of project which allows foreign currency to enter, all the more so in a difficult economic context [l’Argentine traverse une grave crise économique et sociale depuis 2018]. “
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