page_title: Pascua Lama
section_title: History of the project
hierarchical_section_title: Pascua Lama / History of the project
caption_attribution_description: Pascua Lama
context_page_description: Pascua-Lama is an open pit mining project of gold, silver, copper and other minerals. Pascua Lama is located in the Andes mountains, in the southern reaches of Atacama Desert, straddling the border between Chile and Argentina at an altitude of over 4,500 metres. Toronto-based Barrick Gold, the world's largest gold mining company, is developing the project. Due to its proximity to glaciers, Pascua-Lama has caused controversy and public protest in Chile, including demonstrations and petitions presented to the Chilean government. Chile has not approved the project.
  Pascua-Lama contains estimated deposits of 17 million ounces of gold and 635 million ounces of silver, with 75 percent of the deposits in Chile and 25 percent in Argentina.
  As of late 2017, the Barrick project remains on hold. The company reported a U$5.1-billion impairment charge on the asset before suspending development in late 2013. Barrick had spent around US$5 billion of Pascua-Lama's reported US$8.5 billion capital expenditure at that time. Barrick said it is taking a “fresh look” at Pascua-Lama with the intention of developing a “scalable starter operation” that could be built underground in Argentina.
context_section_description: The mining project is organized by the Barrick Gold corporation, which planned in 2006 to invest US$1.5 billion over 20 years in it and projects an annual output of 750,000 ounces of gold and 30 million ounces of silver in the first five years.
  Barrick has been planning the project for several years.  It performed its first studies of the glaciers in 1991, purchased the Chañarcillo estate at the location via an affiliate (Empresa Nevada) in 1997, and published an environmental impact report in 2000, which was approved by COREMA, the regional environment authority, in 2001.
  Barrick's plans for the project have changed over time.  In June 2005, Barrick intended to commence building in January 2006, after responding to a questionnaire put to it by CONAMA, Chile's National Environmental Commission. In November 2005, however, the company published a report stating that it had scrapped its original plans, presented in December 2004, for "transplanting" three glaciers in order to gain access to the deposits beneath them, moving them to another glacier with which they were to bond. This change was publicly supported by Fernando González, the chairman of the council of Huasco Valley farmers. In 2013, the Argentine non-profit environmental organization, CEDHA published a report entitled, "Barrick's Glaciers", claiming that Barrick failed to report or conduct studies on hundreds of glaciers in Pascua Lama's project area. Another report by the same organization also focused on glacier impacts by Barrick Gold to the lands belonging to the Diguita Huascoaltino community in Chile.
  In November 2011, CEDHA filed an Equator Principles Due Diligence Review to two public banks, EDC of Canada and US EXIM Bank of the United States, claiming Barrick Gold was violating a long list of due diligence obligations regarding environmental safety and protection. The banks were set to provide Barrick Gold with significant start up loans for the project, supposed to start in 2012. Other environmental organizations in Canada, Chile and Argentina were also providing information to the banks, discouraging financing to Barrick for Pascua Lama. In March 2012, both EDC and Exim Bank announced that the Barrick deal had fallen through. This critical start up financing for Pascua Lama, estimated to be in the neighborhood of US$500 million would not materialize and soon thereafter, Barrick Gold announced extended delays in  launching Pascua Lama.
  In 2012, in the context of the costs of water usage in mining globally, Barrick's escalating costs for the Pascua Lama mine were reviewed. "As of November 1, 2012, Barrick had spent $3.7 billion on Pascua Lama. In all, it plans to invest between $8 and $8.5 billion to bring the project into production. But if the past is any guide, those costs could rise: the company's budget was just $3 billion in 2009".
  Pascua Mine project of Barrick Chile's gold mine is located at 5,000 meters elevation at the crest of the Central Andes. The Pascua Mine hill and mountains within a few kilometers of the southeast are called the Cerros Nevados. The Pascua ore body is located in the Nevada mineral zone or Nevada hydrothermal alteration zone which is part of a regional area of gold-bearing hydrothermal alteration zones known as El Indio or Eastern belt.
  An environmental acid rock drainage (ARD) baseline report was submitted in 1999. Report authors noted the importance of agriculture of the Rio Huasco valley, whose river and tributaries are glacier fed. Three surface water courses drain the Pascua Mine hill, the Rio Del Estrecho on the northwest side, Rio El Toro on the southwest side, and Arroyo Turbio on the east side. The continental divide of South America separates these rivers. The rivers fed by the Arroyo Turbio do not reach the Atlantic.  Rio Del Estrecho and Rio El Toro flow into the Rio Huasco valley and empties into the Pacific.
caption: Pascua Lama accommodation blocks under construction, 2010
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK EASYSHARE M320 Digital Camera", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "480", "Image YResolution": "480", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Rating": "0", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "7556", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2356", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "11/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:12:20 16:35:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:12:20 16:35:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "224/25", "EXIF ApertureValue": "491/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "297/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "57/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2043", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1103", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "7402", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "80", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "34", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}