Open-cast mine in the Andean Cordillera

Halt the destruction of glaciers providing pure water

No to Pascua Lama Open-cast mine in the Andean Cordillera on the Chilean-Argentine frontier. We ask the Chilean Government not to authorize the Pascua Lama project to protect the whole of 3 glaciers, the purity of the water of the San Felix Valley and El Transito, the quality of the agricultural land of the region of Atacama, the quality of life of the Diaguita people and of the whole population of the region.


Judge for yourself if you want to take action. In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from 2 rivers, fed by 2 glaciers. Water is a most precious resource, and wars will be fought for it. Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the area. Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other minerals. To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the glaciers - something never conceived of in the history of the orld - and to make 2 huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine's rubbish tip.

The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called Barrick Gold. The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose members is George Bush Senior. The Chilean Government has approved the project to start this year, 2006. The only reason it hasn't started yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution. If they destroy the glaciers, they will not just destroy the source of specially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the 2 rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process. Every last gramme of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it is. They will only be left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses.

The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been forbidden to make a TV appeal by a ban from the Ministry of the Interior. Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from international justice. The world must know what is happening in Chile. The only place to start changing the world is from here. We ask you to circulate this message amongst your
friends.
Email noapascualama@yahoo.ca for further information.

Source

Memnun Rusky; ba taajikhaa ruz-baxayr a maa raa barasaan.

checked with 2 Chilean friends and unfortunately it appears to be true...

Thanx for the heads up!
Not at all surprized by this, just N.O.P. for these large corporations.
I guess 'global warming' isn't depleting the glaciers fast enough! It is easier to do without gold, copper, silver than water and food. The local farmers will just join the ranks of the unemployed in the metro areas. Willing to be slaves to keep their children malnorished...
<Or maybe a few of the 'fortunate' ones will be able to secure slave employment at the mine and help the corporation destroy their way of life and local enviornment>
Is there any way to help out?
<besides of course, not investing in Barrick Gold->

Perhaps you should focus on the Chilean government, which has subsidized mining and made it very easy to exploit Andean resources. Most of the copper mining in the US -- where the regulations are *relatively* tight -- has gone to Chile and other SA countries that have lax regulations and subsidized mines. Multinational corporations are a favorite target, but they have no power if the countries refuse to let them develop a resource. Look at those in the Chilean gov't who most benefit by this laxity -- and stop electing them, if possible. You can be sure that there are other worker groups in Chile who support the development, and you will end up seeing a conflict between local miners and local farmers. Agriculture contributes 10x as much as mining to the economy, but it is not as great a source of political power.