Barrick Gold - Pascua Lama Project

Pascua Lama Project

Pascua Lama is a mining project at a large and complex poly-metallic orebody in the high mountains south of Atacama on the border between Chile and Argentina. In early 2006, the project was approved by the environmental authority in the region of Chile where the mine will be constructed. The 19-member regional environmental commission (COREMA) voted unanimously to allow the project to proceed, with conditions imposed to protect the ice fields and the water supply to the Huasco Valley. A decision to move forward with the project was deferred while sectoral permits were finalized for activity like road construction and taxation agreements between Chile and Argentina were negotiated by the two countries. In May, 2009 it was announced the project would proceed to construction.

Barrick Gold acquired the deposit with its acquisition of Lac Minerals in 1993 and is investing close to US$3 billion in this project, which had a planned lifetime of at least 20 years.

The original scope of the ore body lay partially under two small glaciers which eventually feed glacial meltwater into the rivers of the Huasco Province. Environmental reviews took place over more than two years and government authorities imposed 400 conditions on the company in order to mine. As a consequence, more than one million ounces of gold at the site will not be mined. USD $70 million has been placed in trust for spending over twenty years on water related infrastructure, and in the areas of health, education and agriculture. In January, 2010, Chilean authorities began a probe into construction, over concerns about a water source to the project, construction noise and control of dust levels.

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