Chiles regulator orders permanent closure of Barrick's Pascua-Lama mine
Chile’s environmental authority — SMA — has ordered the definitive closure of Barrick Gold’s (TSX, NYSE:ABX) already halted Pascua-Lama project, but lowered the fine for violations to 7 billion pesos ($11.5 million) from the previous $16 million it had charged the company.
"Given 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," SMA head Cristián Franz said in a statement (in Spanish).
The environmental authority analyzed 33 charges and issued total closure sanctions for five of them, which include Barrick’s incomplete monitoring of glaciers and discharge of 'acidic fluids' into a river.
The world’s No.1 gold producer was quick to clarify in a statement that the SMA did not revoke Pascua-Lama’s 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.
The measure doesn't affect Argentine side of the project.
If it ever comes into production, Pascua-Lama, which has been shuttered since 2013, would generate about 800,000 to 850,000 ounces of gold and 35 million ounces of silver per year in the first full five years of its 25-year life.
At: http://www.mining.com/chiles-regulator-orders-permanent-closure-barricks-pascua-lama-mine/
The Andes mountains, surrounding the Pascua-Lama mine on the Chilean-Argentine border.
