Organizations from Canada, United States and Australia have called on Chilean President Ricardo Lagos to halt the Alumysa-Noranda project, which plans to build an aluminum processing plant in the country's southern Patagonia region. “It is a destructive investment,” say environmentalists in a letter sent to Lagos and to Canada's Prime Minister Jean Chretien in mid-July.

The project is to build six dams and three hydroelectric plants that would flood 10,000 hectares and the habitat of 23 species that are targeted for conservation. It would also produce 1.5 million tons of waste that would harm the fragile and pristine Patagonia ecosystem, according to Mining Watch, International Rivers Network, American Lands Alliance and other signatories.