Barrick reaches initial deal with Pascua-Lama mine opponents: lawyer
Reuters – 4 hours ago
ca.finance.yahoo.com
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Canadian miner Barrick Gold (Toronto: ABX.TO - News) has come to an initial agreement with local indigenous peoples who have opposed its stalled Pascua-Lama mining project in South America, the lawyer for the communities said on Wednesday.
Barrick, the world's largest gold miner, halted the gold and copper project on the Chilean-Argentine border last year after investing $5 billion into it.
The mine, which the local Diaguita people had strongly opposed, had been frozen by environmental regulators in Chile over demands that infrastructure to prevent water pollution needed to be built.
But a memorandum of understanding between the communities and Barrick has been struck, an initial step towards bringing the two sides together, Lorenzo Soto, the lawyer for the Diaguita, told Chile's Bio-Bio radio.
Newspaper La Tercera earlier reported 15 of the 18 local communities were involved in the deal.
The agreement will last six months during which Barrick will provide project details to the community for corroboration with experts, a process that will be funded by the Toronto-based mining company.
Should that process be successful, Barrick will enter a dialogue phase that could last "two or three years", Soto said. That phase may involve international observers and include the payment of an "indigenous royalty."
Barrick would not be able to restart construction until the dialogue phase was complete.
Soto also warned that "the communities have not renounced any legal action."
Barrick recently indicated to the Chilean mining ministry that it wanted to proceed with Pascua-Lama, the country's mining minister told Reuters last week.
Barrick declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters. |
