Moving glaciers to mine gold?

Farmers, environmental groups, and scientists in Chile and Argentina are opposing a new mining proposal that involves relocating three large glaciers in the Andes. Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold plans to move some 1 million cubic meters of ice, equal to about half the glaciers' area, to reach the estimated 18 million ounces of gold and silver that lies below. The proposed Pascua Lama mine would straddle the Chile-Argentina border at a height of 5,000 meters and operate for at least 20 years.

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In late May, responding to Barrick's environmental impact statement, Chilean authorities urged the company to develop an alternative plan that wouldn't require moving the glaciers and that would be less polluting than the existing proposal. Farmers in the fertile valleys below fear that the mine will contaminate and disrupt water supplies and parch their land, which is nourished by glacial meltwater and stream run-off. The region, known for its grape, fig, and citrus orchards, receives sparse rainfall and is fringed by arid, desert-like hills.

If built, Pascua Lama is expected to produce some 775,000 ounces of gold annually in its first 10 years of operation--and to leave behind billions of tons of mine wastes. Gold mining is among the most polluting industries in the world, generating a staggering 79 tons of mine wastes for every ounce of gold produced, according to Earthworks, a mining reform group based in Washington, D.C. These wastes can contain cyanide, mercury, arsenic, sulfuric acid, and other chemicals that are either used to separate gold from ore, or produced as a by-product of mining. More than 80 percent of the gold produced each year is used to make jewelry.

More information about gold mining and its impacts can be found at www.nodirtygold.org.