About Barrick, Pascua Lama-Veladero Project
Pascua Lama-Veladero is a mine project operated by the subsidiaries of the Canadian transnational company Barrick Gold, the Compañía Minera Nevada Ltda. (Chile) and Barrick Exploraciones Argentina S.A. They plan to set up a gold, silver and copper mine in a semi-desert region of the Andean Cordillera, on the Chilean-Argentinean border. This project is located on the source of the Huasco river system on the Chilean side, and of the Cura Valley, on the Argentinean side. In Argentina, the mine lies within the San Guillermo Biosphere Reserve territories in the province of San Juan. In Chile, Pascua Lama is on the southern border of the Atacama Desert, one of driest in the world, and intrudes into ancestral Diaguita indigenous territory.
Argentina’s first World Biosphere Reserve is the San Guillermo Wilderness, high in the Andes range in northwest province of San Juan, which was given legal protection in 1980 by the UNESCO. The 900.000 hectare reserve provides crucial ecological services for the entire Southern Andean Steppe bioregion: It provides habitat and mating grounds for hundreds of animal species, such as Andean flamenco, vicuñas, guanaco and ñandu; it is home to many unique and important plant species; it regulates bioregional climate patterns; and most importantly, it is the birthplace of the waters that flow down into an enormous larger region of Argentina and Chile.
In 1989, the very heart of the San Guillermo World Biosphere Reserve was stripped from the UNESCO reserve. In a midnight session of the San Juan legislature, corrupt provincial lawmakers secretly drafted a bill “disaffecting” a strip of some 170,000 hectares from UNESCO protection land that had already been prospected for mining and would later be transferred to Barrick Gold Corporation for its Veladero and Pascua-Lama projects. The change in the law was not announced publicly, provincially or even to UNESCO until ten years later in 1999, after the mapping and initial explorations were completed. During these years, land rights were covertly and often illegally bought for cents per hectare by well-connected local officials, who simply signed public land over to subsidiaries of Barrick Gold for handsome profits.They often purchased the land from poor and indigenous peoples.
Pascua Lama-Veladero mining activities endanger the natural and cultural balance of these valleys, affecting around 70,000 people in Chile 63 and 24,000 in Argentina. Pascua Lama mining directly affects mountain glaciers that are essential water sources for these regions and poses a serious threat to biodiversity.
The area has already experience environmental impacts from the exploration and prospecting phase carried out in the 1990s. A report the national agency responsible for water management in Chile shows that the activities of this mining project have reduced the volume of glaciers Toro 1, Toro 2 and Esperanza between 50 and 70 percent between 1981 and 2000. The Conconta glacier in Argentina has already been destroyed.
The quality and the availability of an already precarious water supply will be threatened by the use of toxic materials such as cyanide and some heavy metals. Mineral extraction methods will cause dust emissions containing particles of lead, arsenic, uranium,chromium, zinc, asbestos, mercury, sulphur, cobalt, manganese, etc. Dust deposits on the surface of glaciers will accelerate the melting process. Accumulation of toxic material will pollute the soil and the ground water table. In addition, mining operations require a large amount of water (370 liters per second) increasing the pressure on an area traditionally prone to drought.
Pascua Lama-Veladero disrupts the ecology of the territorial area known for its agricultural and pastoral activities including the production of export grapes, olive oil, pisco, fruits,vegetables, goat cheese, etc. On the Argentinean side, mining activities will adversely affect the development of tourist activities, including highly valued thermal baths. Also, territorial and ancestral rights of the indigenous Diaguita community in Chile are being violated despite the law focusing on indigenous rights.
Territorial appropriation by Barrick Gold includes the construction of a 6 km tunnel through the Chilean-Argentinean border to allow the transport of resources, machines and various materials needed for the mining operations. The tunnel will also provide the means to move mineral products to the Pacific coast where they can enter the international market. The operation of this tunnel does not include a customs system or a border checkpoint, as required by the present local laws.
Sources:
http://www.noapascualama.org/ (spanish)
http://www.protestbarrick.net/ (english)
photo: andasicomochispop
