Chile鈥檚 environmental聽authority 鈥� SMA 鈥斅� of Barrick Gold鈥檚 (TSX, NYSE:ABX) already halted Pascua-Lama project, but lowered the fine for violations to 7 billion pesos ($11.5 million) from it had charged the company.
鈥淕iven the nature and the size of the breaches that the company committed, there is the conviction that total and definitive closure, plus an economic fine, is the most proportional sanction in this case,鈥� SMA head Cristian Franz (in Spanish).
The environmental聽authority analyzed 33 charges and issued total closure sanctions for five of them, which include Barrick鈥檚 incomplete monitoring of glaciers and discharge of 鈥榓cidic fluids鈥� into a river.
The world鈥檚 No.1 gold producer was that the SMA did not revoke Pascua-Lama鈥檚 environmental permit (RCA). Instead, it ordered the closure of existing surface facilities on the Chilean side of the project, in addition to certain monitoring activities.
Barrick added that such order was consistent with its plan to advance a study for an underground mining operation at Pascua-Lama, which it says would reduce the overall environmental impact.
The SMA said its resolution was based on the analysis of 33 charges, five of which warranted total closure sanctions. Those breaches include Barrick鈥檚 operations impacts on protected flora and fauna, incomplete monitoring of glaciers and聽discharge of 鈥渁cidic fluids鈥� into a river, related to acid rock drainage.
A company spokesman,聽Andy Lloyd,聽told MINING.com聽that none of those charges resulted in any permanent or irreparable damage to the environment. He also noted that聽a small area of vegas (alpine meadow) that was impacted by a landslide had already been rehabilitated.
The gold and silver mine straddling the border with Argentina has been聽,聽when a court ordered the company to halt construction聽. Later that year, Barrick shelved the project citing massive cost overruns and nose-diving metal prices.
Ahead with the Lama portion
The original mine plan for Pascua-Lama contemplated an open-pit operation that would have had an effect on three small glaciers in the Chilean side of the Andes.聽It also involved major construction in the area and聽huge waste dumps.
In 2016, Barrick 聽of the project and agreed to pay $140 million to resolve a聽聽that accused it of distorting facts related to the controversial project.
Shortly after,聽Barrick abandoned the idea of an open pit at the site, saying it 听颈苍蝉迟别补诲.
In April last year, it聽聽mine聽in Argentina to Shandong Gold Group in a transaction worth $960 million. As part of that deal, which made the two firms strategic partners, the Shandong province-based gold miner聽committed to help Barrick move forward with Pascua Lama.
In October, the company to a Chilean group in order to settle an arbitration case against the company filed last year after the gold producer halted payments settled in 2005.
Argentina has been an聽聽鈥� while only around a fifth of the deposit is located in that country, many of the above-ground facilities .
If it ever comes into production, Pascua-Lama would generate about 800,000 to 850,000 ounces of gold聽and 35 million ounces of silver per year in the first full five years of its 25-year life.