Ecobreves – CHILE: Pascua Lama Announcement Criticized

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SANTIAGO, Aug 21 2012 (IPS) - Chilean environmentalists have criticized an announcement by the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold that it will postpone the execution of the Pascua Lima binational mining project by one year and increase initial investment by three billion dollars. The company announced in late July that the cost of construction will be eight billion dollars, due to a rise in inflation.

The director of the Latin American Observatory on Environmental Conflicts, Lucio Cuenca, told Tierramérica that the company is merely attempting to “hide the instability” of the gold, silver and copper mining project.

This instability is partially a result of the entry into force in neighboring Argentina of a law to protect glaciers, and the government’s decision to withdraw from an agreement for the avoidance of double taxation with Chile.

“A project that was imposed by force and has been poorly gestated will inevitably end badly, and this is a demonstration,” Cuenca stressed.