Barrick reafirms that Pascua Lama stoppage would culminate in mid-2014
By the middle of this year is set by Canada’s Barrick the end of the shutdown process of the Pascua-Lama project, specifically on the Argentine side where the works were not arrested as happened in Chile because of a decision by the environmental authority and the courts.
In late April, as part of the first quarter 2014 report, the President and CEO of American mining, Jamie Sokalsky announced that this process was performed in accordance with the schedule established and added that “most demobilization already happened”.
Despite this, in March, Argentine Mining Secretary Jorge Mayoral told the media from that country that Lama, the part of the initiative that is in the neighboring country, specifically in the province of San Juan, “continues in state of construction. Right now there are over 3,000 people assigned to the project. There are a thousand people up in the high mountain”.
The provision that the company had on argentine side of the project when announcing the suspension, was about five thousand workers.
Barrick said in the report that the cost of stopping the construction of the mine, the other side of the ridge would fundamentally the process plant, this year would cost U.S. $ 300 million due to social and environmental obligations.
The company insisted that “the decision to restart the development will depend on improving the economy and reducing uncertainties associated with legal and regulatory aspects”.
Last December, the senior vice president of Pascua-Lama, Eduardo Flores, explained that in the project schema stopped was very difficult to determine what could be employed 3,500 people.
This in response to statements made at that time by the governor of San Juan, who reported that the company was committed to holding assets that magnitude of jobs, which represent the proportion of workers in the initiative of gold and copper, who came from that area of the country.
Source: Diario Financiero
