Loading ...Chile’s environmental court has put the final nail in the coffin to Barrick Gold’s (TSX: ABX) (NYSE: GOLD) giant Pascua-Lama gold-silver project, straddling the border with Argentina, which had been on hold since 2013 over environmental concerns.
The court dismissed late on Thursday a legal challenge from the company to a 2018 ruling. At the time, Chile’s Environmental Protection Agency (SMA) ordered the “total and definitive closure” of the project.
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The tribunal’s president, Mauricio Ovideo, confirmed three of the five main charges against Barrick outlined in the environmental authority’s original ruling. The sentence concludes that the Canadian miner failed to properly monitor glaciers surrounding the project. It also says Barrick’s activities negatively affected the water quality the nearby Estrecho river.
The judge also ruled the gold giant use an unauthorized methodology for calculating water quality levels, which is less detailed and strict than the one required in Chile.
The court also imposed a $9 million fine on the Canadian miner.
Chile court orders “total and definitive” closure of Barrick’s Pascua-Lama