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Pascua Lama, Chile: Moving Three Glaciers

· Written by Rosario Lizana

Categories: Latin America, Chile, Environment, Protest

Can you imagine moving three glaciers covering the driest desert in the world in order to extract gold and silver? Would you approve of a law that allows a private mining company to have economic power over a border between two countries? This is the sad story of Pascua Lama.

To have a clear introduction into the issue, fcadia [1] (ES) explains its relevance in detail:

Pascua Lama [2] es un proyecto binacional minero que pretende realizar la compañía transnacional minera Barrick [3] Gold [4], en la alta cordillera de Chile y Argentina. En Chile, la zona comprometida corresponde a la Tercera Región [5] (Región de Atacama) y en Argentina a la provincia de San Juan [6]. Con una inversión inicial de 1.450 millones de dólares, busca extraer el oro que se encuentra bajo glaciares milenarios [7], reservas acuíferas en el desierto más seco del mundo.

Pascua Lama [2] is a binational mine project that the Barrick [3] Gold [4] transnational mine company hopes to carry out in the high Chilean and Argentinean mountains. In Chile, the zone is in the third region [5] (Atacama Region) and in Argentina in the San Juan [6] Province. With an initial investment of US$ 1.45 billion, they will search to extract the gold that is under millennial glaciers [7], water reserves in the driest desert in the world.

Para poder desarrollar un proyecto en esta zona, era necesario contar con una ley que otorgara facultades especiales a las empresas, por sobre las legislaciones nacionales. Para ello, la empresa redactó un texto legal, que fue aprobado en 1997 por Carlos Menem (presidente de Argentina) y Eduardo Frei (presidente de Chile). La importancia estratégica que posee Pascua Lama en cuanto al Tratado Minero [8], es que de realizarse el proyecto, se instalaría una jurisprudencia que faculta a cualquier transnacional para que se apropie de toda la franja limítrofe cordillerana entre Chile y Argentina, de manera que la soberanía, el control de los recursos hídricos (la cordillera es la madre de nuestras aguas) y los recursos minerales que en Argentina no eran explotados por la dificultad de transporte, quedan a merced de la voluntad depredadora de las transnacionales: se crearán imperios económicos intocables en espacios que nuestros pueblos por siglos cuidaron y respetaron.

In order to develop a project in this zone it was necessary to have a law that gives special powers to the enterprises, above the national laws. And so the enterprise drew up a legal text that was approved in 1997 by then-presidents Carlos Menem (Argentina) and Eduardo Frei (Chile). The strategic importance of Pascua Lama in the miner agreement [8] is that, if the project goes on, a precedent will be established that allows any transnational company can appropriate resources from the bordering strip between Chile and Argentina. So, the sovereignty and control of water (the mountains are the mother of our water) and mineral resources that haven't been exploited in Argentina because of transportation difficulties, will be at the mercy of transnational company's predatory will. They will create untouchable economic empires in natural spaces that our people has respected and taken care of for centuries.

Furthermore, the protection of natural resources does not exist as this summary by Atina Chile [9] (ES) describes the project involved in moving 24 hectares of three different glaciers. The glaciers brings water to the Huasco valley.

El proyecto busca explotar las cerca de 17 millones de onzas de oro y 635 millones de onzas de plata para lograr una producción anual promedio, según ha declarado la firma, de aproximadamente 750.000-775.000 onzas de oro y 30 millones de onzas de plata anuales durante los primeros diez años.

The project wants to exploit around 17 million ounces of gold and 635 million ounces of silver to get an annual average production of approximately 750000-775000 ounces of gold and 30 million of silver over the first ten years.

A lot of civil protests have occurred since the project appeared in the Chilean newspaper headlines.

There is also an unofficial blog [10] (ES) where you can find all the articles since January 2006 about the issue. They also have a fotoblog [11] (ES) in which they promote the cultural events that have been made to inform the people about this issue. The online collective, Atina Chile [9] (ES) also has an online colaborative document and a summary with all the information on this case.