This is an archive. The forum is not taking new registrations or allowing new discussion, despite what the buttons might suggest.
Canadian Company To Move Three Glaciers To Open Gold Mine
The Pascua Lama is a shocking project that will destroy the ecology of these pristine Andes mountains and the future survival of the local farming communities. The mining will cease in about 20 year, after having tunneled through and "relocated" about 20 hectares of glaciers!!! :? :?
Find more information from different sources below:
(Excerpts taken from Exile of the Cóndor: Transnational Hegemony on the Border: the Mining Treaty Between Chile and Argentina Moon, Padilla and Alcayata, Stgo, 2004)
Pascua Lama is a mining project consisting of the open-pit exploitation of a deposit of gold, silver and copper ore and its processing to produce doré (gold and silver) and copper concentrate.
The deposit is located high in the Andes on the Chilean-Argentinean border, about 150 kilometres to the south-east of the city of Vallenar in the Commune of Alto del Carmen, Province of Huasco, III Region of Chile.
The nearest communities are Chollay and Las Breas, located 35 and 55 km away, respectively. (....)
A large part of the open pit will be in Chilean territory, as well as a waste rock dump, the processing plant, primary crusher, mine equipment maintenance complex, and powder magazine for the storage of explosives.
These facilities will be located in the headwaters of the Estrecho River, tributary of the Chollay River, at 4,400 metres above sea level.
(....)
Glacier removal and handling
The information available in the EIA only establishes that this will have an approximate surface area of 10 hectares and that the sectors of glacier that will have to be removed will be determined with the appropriate lead time in accord with the updated mining plan. There are no estimates of thickness or the equivalent in water.
The lack of relevant technical expertise in removing glaciers implies an irreversible environmental impact. What is certain is that the three affected glaciers would suffer an environmental impact. Nevertheless, there is no certainty whatsoever of what the impact would be on glaciers or permafrost (frozen rock or soil) from the road network and the associated stabilization measures that generally involves the use of salts.
With respect to the measures and actions that will be implemented for handling glaciers there are the following concerns:
(....)Finally, it is necessary to specify what is understood by compensation measures if the removal of the glacier means its disappearance. In this sense, if the glaciers disappear no compensation is possible in terms of maintaining baseline environmental quality previous to the project, since it is practically impossible to regenerate a glacier, or if it is, such a procedure is unknown.
Find this information at MiningWatch: http://www.miningwatch.ca/issues/Pascua_Lama/Padilla_en.html
Canadian Company To Move Three Glaciers To Open Gold Mine
The Santiago Times, Chile - By Jade Frank
March 31, 2005
Canadian international mining company Barrick Gold has plans to relocate three glaciers in the mountain range between Argentina and Chile to gain access to 17.6 million oz. of rich gold and silver deposits.
Chilean farmers and residents of the surrounding Huasco Valley are strongly opposed to the proposal of transferring the ice masses. The glaciers' tributaries are used for irrigation by the farmers, and their removal would threaten the ecological balance and agricultural production of the fertile river valley.
Barrick hopes to transfer 300,000 cubic meters of ice with a 20-hectare surface area from the glaciers that surround the deposits. To mitigate ecological impact and prevent ice from melting, Barrick hopes to transfer the three glaciers, Toro I, Toro II and Esperanza, to an area with similar surface characteristics and elevation by merging the three into a larger glacier, Guanaco, located several kilometers south with a surface area of over 200 hectares."
(.....)
Find more at Mines & Communities Website: http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press582.htm
Find more information from different sources below:
(Excerpts taken from Exile of the Cóndor: Transnational Hegemony on the Border: the Mining Treaty Between Chile and Argentina Moon, Padilla and Alcayata, Stgo, 2004)
Pascua Lama is a mining project consisting of the open-pit exploitation of a deposit of gold, silver and copper ore and its processing to produce doré (gold and silver) and copper concentrate.
The deposit is located high in the Andes on the Chilean-Argentinean border, about 150 kilometres to the south-east of the city of Vallenar in the Commune of Alto del Carmen, Province of Huasco, III Region of Chile.
The nearest communities are Chollay and Las Breas, located 35 and 55 km away, respectively. (....)
A large part of the open pit will be in Chilean territory, as well as a waste rock dump, the processing plant, primary crusher, mine equipment maintenance complex, and powder magazine for the storage of explosives.
These facilities will be located in the headwaters of the Estrecho River, tributary of the Chollay River, at 4,400 metres above sea level.
(....)
Glacier removal and handling
The information available in the EIA only establishes that this will have an approximate surface area of 10 hectares and that the sectors of glacier that will have to be removed will be determined with the appropriate lead time in accord with the updated mining plan. There are no estimates of thickness or the equivalent in water.
The lack of relevant technical expertise in removing glaciers implies an irreversible environmental impact. What is certain is that the three affected glaciers would suffer an environmental impact. Nevertheless, there is no certainty whatsoever of what the impact would be on glaciers or permafrost (frozen rock or soil) from the road network and the associated stabilization measures that generally involves the use of salts.
With respect to the measures and actions that will be implemented for handling glaciers there are the following concerns:
(....)Finally, it is necessary to specify what is understood by compensation measures if the removal of the glacier means its disappearance. In this sense, if the glaciers disappear no compensation is possible in terms of maintaining baseline environmental quality previous to the project, since it is practically impossible to regenerate a glacier, or if it is, such a procedure is unknown.
Find this information at MiningWatch: http://www.miningwatch.ca/issues/Pascua_Lama/Padilla_en.html
-
"
Canadian Company To Move Three Glaciers To Open Gold Mine
The Santiago Times, Chile - By Jade Frank
March 31, 2005
Canadian international mining company Barrick Gold has plans to relocate three glaciers in the mountain range between Argentina and Chile to gain access to 17.6 million oz. of rich gold and silver deposits.
Chilean farmers and residents of the surrounding Huasco Valley are strongly opposed to the proposal of transferring the ice masses. The glaciers' tributaries are used for irrigation by the farmers, and their removal would threaten the ecological balance and agricultural production of the fertile river valley.
Barrick hopes to transfer 300,000 cubic meters of ice with a 20-hectare surface area from the glaciers that surround the deposits. To mitigate ecological impact and prevent ice from melting, Barrick hopes to transfer the three glaciers, Toro I, Toro II and Esperanza, to an area with similar surface characteristics and elevation by merging the three into a larger glacier, Guanaco, located several kilometers south with a surface area of over 200 hectares."
(.....)
Find more at Mines & Communities Website: http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press582.htm
Howdy, Stranger!