ALERT: Water More Precious than Gold, Stop Chile's Pascua Lama Gold Mine
Take Action: Glacier gold mine will taint pristine valley with cyanide
Canadian-based Barrick Gold plans to soon launch a gold mine in a remote Chilean valley that will destroy regional water supplies and devastate local sustainable agricultural practices. The Pascua Lama mining project is 80 miles south-west of the Chilean city of Vallena, and involves mining a very rich field of gold and silver in the high mountains between Chile and Argentina at an altitude of over 4,500 metres. The proposed "Pascua Lama" mine will devastate community water rights and indigenous farmers - leading to the destruction of glaciers and contamination of the purest of water sources necessary for Chile's well-being.
As is typical for gold mining, the project will use cyanide and other toxic materials to extract small amounts of gold from huge volumes of mined ore. Toxic chemical waste including cyanide will be removed via drainage into nearby rivers, seriously polluting marvelously pure glacial fed rivers, and causing long-term environmental impacts for local peoples. In a first, glaciers abutting and partially covering the proposed mine will be destroyed, posing a threat to the ecosystem and further contaminating the source of local water supplies, seriously harming agriculture and quality of life in the region.
Recently Barrick Gold won approval from the Chilean government to proceed with the $1.5 billion project, though continued protests and litigation are expected. Based in Canada, the Barrick Gold Corporation is the world's largest gold mining operation, comprising 22 mines on four continents. Former U.S. president George H. W. Bush joined the company's advisory council in 1995. Barrick Gold wants to commence building on September 2006 with extraction operations beginning in 2009. The company will contribute little to the local economy, making substantial profits at great expense to the ecological sustainability of those living near the mine and depending upon local water sources that will be devastated by toxic poisons.
A dedicated group of local campaigners have fought against the proposal for a decade and despite recent approval by the Chilean National Environment Commission (CONAMA) intend to file further lawsuits, as well as pursuing existing lawsuits filed by indigenous rights groups who contest Barrick's ownership of the property. A chain email campaign of unknown origin brought the situation to the attention of a much larger international audience. It is hoped the matter will be examined by the Inter-American Human Rights Court.
With rising gold prices and most major mines exhausted in over-developed countries, there has been a surge in major mining operations in the developing world. Such cash poor but resource rich countries have less strict environmental standards and are rarely able to negotiate favorable deals that equitably contribute to national development without severe environmental costs - i.e. the Pascua Lama mine will operate on a tax-free basis. It is time to confront once and for all the global mining industry which wastefully produces mostly unnecessary consumer products at great expense to the biosphere and local ecologically sustainable development potential.
Lack of global access to freshwater is the biggest immediate environmental threat to hundreds of millions of people. Global warming and deforestation are worsening this water crisis. Water is more precious than gold, and its accessibility must be a global human right that surpasses all other considerations. There can be no further destruction of natural water systems upon which humanity is utterly dependent upon for life. Let's draw the line at Pascua Lama.
Comments
Yes, let's block this!
Posted by: David Paul Xavier Burch | June 21, 2006 2:07 PM
Yes, let's block this
Posted by: Margaret Rahui | June 21, 2006 7:40 PM
According to Reuters it is too late to stop this project.
Barrick Gold Project Gets Chile Environmental Okay
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36806/story.htm
RESPONSE: Several list recipients have referred to the recent environmental approval by the Chile government in suggesting it is too late to stop the project. Yes, time is short and the date is late. But there are still a number of court challenges, resistance locally is strong, and Argentina still must give environmental approval - alluded to below. It is certainly NOT over yet when construction has not even started and will not be completed until 2009. This is a unique opportunity to raise the issue and confront big gold.
Posted by: Benjamin | June 22, 2006 7:02 AM
Canadian-based Barrick Gold: Since this is a Canadian based company, why not send a list of their executives as well! I would like to hear their response to yours.
Posted by: d.eddy | June 23, 2006 8:03 PM
They have not started drilling yet however the government already agreed to the project. It is really serious cause this region in Chile is very dry and water is the most important LIFE element - Please let stop them from contaminating our invornment!
Posted by: Lucinka | June 24, 2006 8:56 AM
yes, this is an awful issue. I am co-creating an event to raise awareness and funds in Chicago on August 12, contact me at lightseed@gmail.com for more info
Posted by: niema wilson | June 27, 2006 4:49 PM
I used the e-mail campaign feature that followed this article, amending the sample letter to distinguish it from the pre-prepared one, and was perhaps sharper in my choice of words, raising the issue of conscience, appealing to those who are parents and the kind of world they are leaving to their children.
Vincent Borg, Sr. V. President of Barrick suggests that I have been misled by the article and sent me a PDF, Pascua-LamaQA.pdf, which not surprisingly refutes the entire article and makes claims of great care having been taken and wide consultation in preparation for this project.
I could simply say that the document is predictable propaganda, but that would not be a responsible response.
For example the PDF claims, concerning the water quality issue,
"Barrick has more than five years of data measuring water quality and quantity in the water courses
surrounding the project, in addition to regional government information. This data has been reviewed
by multiple independent internationally recognized hydrology, hydrogeology, geochemical, biology,
limnology, archeology, anthrology, and sociology experts from private consultancies, universities, and
scientific institutions, including representatives of the Huasco Water Users Cooperative (Junta de
Vigilancia del Rio Huasco)."
The document itself has no footnotes and the identities of the "experts" is not cited. Thus the document does not have even face validity in this claim; at this point it is only using the infamous "argument by authority" method, a favorite of propagandists, but of course irrelevant in a genuine discussion.
Does anyone out there have any more documentation on who these "independent" experts were and if any of their conclusions have been published, and if so any corroboration or disagreements - refutations of that writing?
If I receive any indication of publicly available documents to examine Barrick's claims from the point of view of deconstruction and sociology of knowledge (ideology) and may be the first issue examined by the newly-formed Canadian Centre for Public Sociology (legal charter and web site currently in process).
It appears from the PDF that the University of Waterloo has been involved in the research for this project, though no specifics were offered as to who to contact.
Anyone who has links or any accessible form of information on these purported academic background studies, I would be most grateful to hear of them. Thanks.
Posted by: Joe Wheeler | July 28, 2006 2:57 PM