MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Protests in Argentina, Chile over mines near the border

Two mining projects near the mutual border between Argentina and Chile have sparked protests, with demonstrators claiming that they would cause “serious” pollution.

Canadian firm Barrick Gold, the world's top gold-mining company, is exploiting the Veladero mine and soon plans to do the same at Pascua-Lama, both of which are located in the Andes Mountains near the border with Chile about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires.

Both mines are open pit mines where the precious-metal-laced rock is freed up with explosives and then gold and silver are separated from the crushed rubble using cyanide.

The Argentine protests motivated the local San Juan Self-Mobilized movement to join with groups of picketers demonstrating against Barrick Gold and deliver a petition to the firm calling for work at the mine to be halted.

The project at the Pascua-Lama mine on the border has sparked several protests by Chilean environmentalists and opposition parties, who have received the support of the Catholic Church.

Chilean ecological groups gather each Thursday in front of the presidential palace in Santiago to protest against the operation of the mine.

The matter was also dealt with during Chile's recent presidential campaign in the debate among the country's candidates. The election was won by Michelle Bachelet.

Authorities in Chile's Atacama region in mid-February approved, with restrictions, the Canadian firm's plans to mine for gold and silver.

"When the news hits Europe that there are lixiviation (cyanide washing) plants near the San Juan vinyards, agriculture will disappear in that province," Carlos Gonzalez, of the Inti-Chuteh ecological group, told the daily La Nacion.

However, Barrick Gold said that there is no possibility of a cyanide leak in the production process and that they are complying with all environmental laws and regulations. "It's impossible that pollution could occur using lixiviation," said San Juan Gov. Jose Luis Gioja.

Over the next 17 years, Barrick Gold plans to extract 13 million ounces of gold worth about $7 billion from the Veladero mine. The Pascua-Lama mine has estimated gold reserves of 17 million ounces worth about $9.5 billion.

The firm will employ about 10,000 workers at the two mines and will invest some $2 billion in the pair of projects.