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Image Source: Barrick Gold’s Pascua Lama Project
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Barrick Gold accepts environmental court ruling in Chile
Barrick Gold accepts environmental court ruling in Chile
Barrick Gold Corporation accepted the decision of the Antofagasta Environmental Court to uphold the closure order and sanction the Chilean environmental regulator imposed on Compañía Minera Nevada, Barrick’s subsidiary that owns the Chilean part of the Pascua-Lama project. Barrick said the ruling drew a line under a legal process that began in 2013 and that the company would not appeal it. Construction was suspended that year and Pascua would now move from care and maintenance to closure in accordance with the Environmental Court decision.
Following the ruling, Marcelo Álvarez, Barrick’s executive director for Chile and Argentina, said that Pascua-Lama remained an important project and work is already underway to re-evaluate its potential. This involves a comprehensive internal review of its technical, economic and social aspects, as well as different approaches to permitting and development in the event that ongoing studies yield a project that meets Barrick’s investment filters. He confirmed that any development of a new project would comply with current legislation in both Chile and Argentina.
While the project was suspended, Pascua-Lama continued to treat and monitor water quality to meet its environmental commitments. The Environmental Court recognized that none of the previous violations that led to the closure order had caused irreparable damage.
Source : Institute for Strategic Research, SteelGuru
