January 23, 2018

On Wednesday, January 17, the Chilean Environmental Superintendence (SMA) ordered the permanent closure of Barrick Gold’s Pascua Lama open pit gold mine project and imposed a fine of approximately $12 million on the company. The agency’s decision follows five years of investigation and a series of community complaints about environmental infractions at the project site. The authority imposed penalties and laid more than 30 charges for a series of offences, six of which were classified as very serious, including two that concern irreparable damage to the environment…Barrick emphasizes that the environmental permit (RCA) for the project remains intact. However, the SMA makes clear in its ruling that the permit remains in effect solely to facilitate oversight of the project’s closure:  (...) with the cancelation of the RCA, the state loses the normative basis for imposing environmental mitigation measures during project closure, which are fundamental to control environmental risks and damage...