Water is More Precious Than Gold

“We ask the Chilean Government not to authorize the Pascua Lama project to protect the whole of 3 glaciers, the purity of the water of the San Felix Valley and El Transito, the quality of the agricultural land of the region of Atacama, the quality of life of the Diaguita people and of the whole population of the region.”

-email petition from “No Pascua Lama”

At a time when Greenland and Antarctica are melting at a rate unseen in the last 10,000 years, companies and governments in South America are voluntarily agreeing to destroy several glaciers that are precious sources of water and ways of life for thousands of people. I received an email petition from several people asking me to oppose this project, so I thought I’d look into it, and the story seemed sufficiently insidious to broadcast the information here.

The following article includes information from and about the Chilean community leaders’ opposition to the project, and also links to the implicated company’s website (Barrick Gold) where you can read their rebuttal of the community’s allegations. Please read on and decide for yourself if this is something you’d like to take action on. There are suggestions for how to respond at the bottom of the page.

The project that has caused so much international fervor is called Pascua Lama and it is taking place in the Valle de San Felix on the border between Argentina and Chile. The project will extract gold, silver, copper and mercury in a open-pit strip mine in the delicate high Andes bioregion directly upon the Argentina-Chile border. It is alleged that it will irrevocably alter the glaciers that have nourished the region for thousands of years and irreversibly damage the ecosystems and life of the indigenous (Diaguita) communities that call the region home.

According to the community leaders in Chile who oppose the agreement between the Chilean government and a multi-national company called Barrick Gold, the Pascua Lama project has been categorically opposed by a broad cross-section of environmental groups in Chile as well as by many of the 70,000 irrigation farmers and small farmers whose livelihoods depend on the water originating in the glaciers at the mine site. They are supported by church groups and backed by affected groups on the Argentinean side of the border - residents of the towns of Calingasta and Iglesia, as well as the wine producers in the province of San Juan. The opponents contend that if the company destroys the glaciers, they will not only destroy the source of pure water for the region, but they will permanently contaminate the two rivers with cyanide and sulphuric acid used in the mining extraction process, so the rivers will never again be fit for human or animal consumption.

The Chilean community leaders also state that Barrick had been working on the project since 1996, pushing for a “mining integration and complementation treaty” between Chile and Argentina that would make the project more lucrative by exempting it - and any other mines in the “border zone” sacrifice area along the spine of the Andes - from all tariffs and taxes, streamlining the acquisition of mineral rights, and allowing free transport of goods and material (including ore and wastes) across the border. The treaty was signed (in secret, without notifying the affected peoples in the region) in December 1997, and in 1999 a “complementary protocol” was signed setting out the area covered by the treaty and allowing mining companies free access to water resources within the zone. Minera Nevada, Barrick’s Chilean subsidiary, submitted the first Environmental Impact Survey in 2000, neglecting to mention the three glaciers standing in the way of the open pit mine.

As of 2006, Barrick is still planning to build the mine, breaking up and moving the Esperanza and Toro 1 and 2 glaciers (or “ice reserves” as the company calls them to avoid acknowledging that they are glaciers). To get at these, it will be necessary to break and destroy the glaciers - something never conceived of before in the history of the world - to make 2 huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine’s rubbish tip.

In considering an issue like this it’s important to get as much information as you can, and to consider both sides of the argument. If you’d like to learn more about Barrick Gold’s side of the story, click here. To learn more about the people’s movement, and to take action against the agreement, click here or here. You can also read an Open Letter to Chilean President Ricardo Lagos below.

Most of the information used in this piece was found on Mining Watch Canada’s website.

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Open Letter to Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Opposing Approval of Pascua Lama Project
Tuesday February 7, 2006 12:07 PM

Mr. President
Ricardo Lagos E.
La Moneda,
Santiago, Chile.

Your Excellency,

The hereafter signatory organisations write to inform you of their total support for the content of the letter sent last year by diverse Chilean organisations, including 18,000 signatures which endorsed the great preoccupation raised by the possibility of your government’s approval of the Pascua Lama mining project. Its eventual approval - in spite of the growing opposition to this project in Chile and worldwide, is still worrying us today.

The Pascua Lama conflict puts on one side the interests of a great mining transnational corporation, and on the other the immediate interests of the inhabitants of the whole Huasco river system and those of Chile as a sovereign nation. Direct threats to basic needs of the affected population are such as their traditional access to a natural resource - water - that is locally very scarce, and it would affect the available water flow and its quality. Another threat is the possibility of writing-off an outstanding ownership dispute involving an autochthonous Diaguita community with a third party which sold their contested rights to the mining transnational. According to all the affected parties the mining company has not, as yet, provided any factual and convincing explanations to their complaints. In contrast, governmental organisations that are mandated to safeguard local and national interests, have acted condescendingly when confronted with complaints against the mining investors. It is a major concern that this conflict never prompted a national debate on this issue, and that what might be interpreted as government service’s indifference and lack of conviction might quickly generate similar requests from transnational corporations.

Little comfort comes from the fact that the nation still does not have detailed information concerning the expected benefits from gold mine operations in the region of Coquimbo (“El Indio” gold mine), that lasted for more than 10 years and were also exploited by Barrick Gold. What was the social, economic and environmental outcome shown in balance sheets for this mining project? And what political lessons were learnt to ensure good mining practices in future leases of national resources? Publication of full reports - including at least the former above mentioned details - should be compulsory for all foreign companies whose leases come to an end.

Chileans are conscious of their complex and pernicious recent historical past, which during the dictatorship allowed the privatization of the large and vital state owned sector of the economy. This was an infamous plunder of national resources only made possible thanks to lack of institutional controls and on account of a vicious regime in power, wielding brutal repression that excluded citizen consultation. It is to be hoped that sooner rather than later in-depth studies should be initiated in order to reveal all the irregularities that allowed an expedient privatization. Their results should identify both the instigators and the plunderers, and effective measures should also be proposed to repair the damages inflicted upon the nation.

Democratic governments cannot but practice the “Never Again” motto and abide with the national aspiration that demand political transparency and consistency with civic behavior during negotiations of projects that concern the nation’s future. Nevertheless numerous legal initiatives have been proposed and approved without adequate consultation in spite of their deep social repercussion. Mention can be made here of some such initiatives related to the Pascua-Lama project: the mining Treaty Argentina - Chile, the mining code, the water code, the tributary reform that favour foreign mining corporations interests, among others. These legal instruments are impregnated by an unscrupulous social vision, where the interests of the common citizen and the small businessman are left defenceless, where the necessary environmental protection as far as rational use of national resource is abdicated, but where maximum of guarantees are conceded to large capital owners and to foreign interests. These instruments, even though some may claim them to be legal, this does not stop them from being illegitimate. In line with our best efforts to repeal the perverse legacy left by the dictatorship, it becomes a must to recognize and to correct all our errors and omissions that have been committed since 1990, because this is the only possible way to forge the new democratic Chile whose government will stand for the benefit of us all.

If we are to look towards the future, especially now that our second centenary as a nation is close at hand, we must insist that our future projects should forge a new society that is centered in our people’s needs and feelings, a society filled with human values that include solidarity and provides ample opportunity to participate. The economic growth of a country must be one of its means to fulfill such aspirations, and as far as possible in ample collaboration with neighboring nations and friendly countries who share these goals with us. But people cannot be considered as a mere factor that is at the service of the economy; the opposite is true, it is the economy that must always at the service of the community.

And this brings us to ponder about the problem of foreign investments. The usual predicament of people in government is to insist on the great need to welcome foreign investment, even to accept sacrifices in order to retain them or to increase them. There is little doubt that to a certain extent such investment might be necessary, but that does not imply that governments should resign their role to supervise these concessions and to enforce the essential protection of the citizens’ interests. The State must not only supervise these concessions but must also have all the elements at their disposal to evaluate the expected benefits that such investments should leave, as well as to assess possible damages that these activities might cause and seek just compensation. Without a clear and strict policy concerning these undertakings, and adequate means to enforce it, we run the risk to fall victim of the voracity of the great corporations.

Mr. President, consequent with the set of arguments stated above we support the request to reject the Pascua Lama project as it stands at present. It is essential to undertake immediately an exhaustive study of all mechanisms and negotiations that allowed this project request to reach up to this decisive negotiation stage without adequate consultation of the affected community. Our position does not exclude that this mine deposit could be exploited in the future, but only if the community is provided access to results of adequate and impartial studies, which are made public. And, furthermore, that such studies demonstrate that this project will be a benefit for the nation, will cause no damage for the local producers and inhabitants, and that it will respect ecological regulations set by Chile to protect its environment and its people.

Trusting in your commitment with all Chileans and your proficiency as a statesman, the organizations thank you for the consideration you may offer to their request to reject this project, and sign accordingly.

Yours truly

Gerardo Aiquel (Grupo de Trabajo -Campaña Oposición al Proyecto Pascua Lama) e-mail: gaiquel@web.ca
15, Rue de Castelnau O, Montréal, Québec H2R 2W3, Canada