Chile s Pascua-Lama Mine Legally Shut Down, but Mining Exploration Continues
Straddling the border of northern Chile and Argentina, with operations in both countries, the Pascua-Lama copper and gold mine project sits in a rust-colored area of the Huasco Valley in the Andes. The extraction of gold and copper on the amphitheater-like tiers of this open-pit mine has the potential to damage glaciers and pollute and over-extract waterways that have been used by local populations for millennia.
After more than two decades of legal challenges and public protests, Chile’s First Environmental Court has ruled that Barrick, a Canadian gold-mining company, must close the Chilean portion of its Pascua-Lama mine. Despite this unprecedented win for those concerned with the environmental impacts of mining, Barrick continues to investigate the surrounding area for potential projects.