Monday, August 18, 2008

PASCUA LAMA PARALYSIS SPOOKS INVESTORS



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Chile and Argentina's failure to reach an agreement on procedures for the controversial Pascua Lama mining project have jeopardized four other bi-national mining projects between the two nations, representing an investment of over US$5 billion, reported Chilean daily La Tercera this weekend.
As the first bi-national mining initiative to ever occur in Chile, Canadian company Barrick Gold’s Pascua Lama project was meant to set the administrative groundwork for future exploitation of the gold and mineral rich areas straddling the border. The controversial project, first proposed 20 years ago, has been delayed for two years and counting, as Argentina and Chile continue to haggle over tax revenue allocation issues (ST August 18).

The other projects hanging fire due to the delay in the Pascua Llama deal, according to El Mercurio’s report, include the Tenke Mining and CVRD’s Las Flechas project, Xstrata Copper’s Pachón project, Lundin and Jogmec’s Vicuña project and the hitherto paralyzed Amos Andrés project with Río Tinto. All of these mining initiatives are taking their lead from Pascua Lama, and Chile and Argentina's failure to come to a concrete agreement is spooking investors.

Still, the obstacles for the mining initiatives have not included consideration of the large-scale environmental damage the projects entail, nor grassroots resistance to the projects (ST May 8). Though approved by Chile's National Environmental Commission (CONAMA), the Pascua Lama project involves mining under glaciers, which have already been severely damaged by Barrick’s preliminary development work. The communities downstream also face the long-term contamination of their sole water supply, resulting in Barrick’s US$60 million “pay off” to the local downstream communities to keep them in line.

While the company refuses to comment, rumors within the mining sector have it that Barrick is considering cutting its losses with the bi-national agreement and making the mine exclusively on the Chilean side, which is where 80 percent of the current site lies.


SOURCES: LA TERCERA
By Colette Bernasconi ( editor@santiagotimes.clThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Saturday, August 16, 2008

"Hay algunos que quieren que Pascua-Lama no salga"



En medio de la incertidumbre por el futuro de la mina de oro Pascua Lama, José Luis Gioja dijo ayer que "lo que por ahí hay que tener ojo, lo que no es una acusación sino una observación, y es que hay algunos interesados en que el proyecto no salga. Hay algunos sanjuaninos que no los veo bien ubicados, y especialmente algunos chilenos que tienen intereses y que quieren que solamente se haga Pascua del lado de Chile". No obstante, oficialmente son optimistas con que la mina de oro se empiece a construir en septiembre, pese a las piedras en el camino (ver aparte).

El gobernador lanzó el análisis en momentos en que el proyecto minero de oro binacional está trabado principalmente porque Argentina y Chile no se ponen de acuerdo sobre dónde debe tributar la empresa Barrick. Los avances en las negociaciones fueron relativizados por el presidente de Barrick Sudamérica, Igor González, al inaugurar el jueves último el molino eólico de Veladero: "Todavía no contamos con los acuerdos tributarios binacionales y por lo tanto, no podemos anunciar el proyecto", dijo a este diario, una frase que fuentes gubernamentales calificaron como una "presión empresarial".

Según dijo el secretario de Minería local, Felipe Saavedra, el martes hay una reunión entre la empresa y el equipo oficial encabezado por el gobernador para seguir trabajando el tema tributario. Ayer también hubo una reunión para definir los permisos sectoriales.

"A nivel nacional sabemos que el secretario de Minería de la Nación nos envía informes periódicamente diciendo que se está trabajando, que se están resolviendo estos problemas, y ellos también son optimistas, de que vamos a contar con todos los instrumentos necesarios para que la empresa pueda comenzar la construcción de la mina", dijo Saavedra. Agregó que: "la empresa tiene apuro por comenzar y sabemos que en septiembre comienza la temporada, y por eso queremos para esa fecha tener todo terminado para que pueda empezar a construir".

En esa línea, Gioja dijo "estamos trabajando y bien, haciendo todos los esfuerzos desde la provincia, y también desde la Nación para ir cerrando los problemas que existen, y confiamos plenamente que antes de fin de año vamos a estar trabajando en el proyecto".

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

PASCUA LAMA MINE PLANS STILL AT STANDSTILL


Plans for Chile and Argentina's first shared mining project has hit a two-year delay as Argentinean President Cristina Fernández neglected to approve Chile's tax revenue distribution proposals, Chilean daily El Mercurio reported Monday.
After months of discussions, the Chilean government had sent Fernández a project for Chile to collect 80 percent of the taxes from Pascua Lama's gold, silver and copper mining operations that straddle the Chilean-Argentinean border, given that the majority of the deposits are located on Chile's side of the Andes mountain range in Region III. Argentina has insisted on a 50-50 split of the revenue.

Chile modified its tax distribution proposal in June in Argentina's favor as a solution to the split, but Argentina still found the deal insufficient. Since Argentina is confronting agriculture strikes and fighting tax battles within its own country, the Fernández government has put the proposal aside and dialogue between trans-Andean authorities has been shut off.

As several other million-dollar projects are collecting dust within the Bi-national Commission for the Mining Deal, authorities stress that the resolution to the Pascua Lama mine is important in order for other bi-national projects to proceed.

More than 17 million ounces of gold, as well as silver and copper deposits, sit in the mine-to-be of Canadian driller Barrick Gold, who had hoped to begin a US$3 billion mine construction in September (ST May 19). But delays in the tax revenue allocation plan, various sector permits pending in Argentina and resurfacing environmental contamination concerns (ST May 8) have pushed construction plans back two years.

If Pascua Lama is constructed, Chile's second largest gold source would produce 600,000 ounces of gold and 23 million ounces of silver a year, as well as smaller quantities of copper. The mine's tax revenues would be expected to sum up to US$7 billion in total (ST Sept 12, 2007).

SOURCE: EL MERCURIO
By Elaine Ramirez ( editor@santiagotimes.clThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Friday, August 8, 2008

CHILE'S REGION III SURPASSES REGION II IN MINING EXPLORATION


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Friday, 08 August 2008
The Atacama zone of Chile’s Region III registered 8,518 mining exploration grants in 2007, an increase of 11.6 percent, surpassing the 7,044 grants in Antofagasta (Region II) for the first time ever. According to the latest Yearly Report on Chilean Mining, published by the National Service of Mining and Geology (SERNAGEOMIN), Atacama accounted for 22.7 percent of the Chilean mining exploration area, edging out Antofagasta’s 22.4 percent share.
The vast area and abundance of exploration opportunities in Atacama have made the zone the most active mining site in Chile. Atacama boasted 2,326,700 hectares (1 hectare equals 10,000 square meters) of mining sites in 2007, compared to Antofagasta’s 2,298,400 hectares, which dropped by 23 percent from 2006.

“Atacama’s large diversity and great potential from the geological standpoint is attracting exploration from all types of companies,” said Juan Carlos Guajardo, executive director of the Center for Copper and Mining Studies (CESCO). “Region III has large deposits of copper and gold as well as titanium and nonmetallic minerals. Because of this, Atacama is generating a lot of interest from a variety of miners.”

Alejandro Vío, national director of SERNAGEOMIN, believes that more junior mining companies are exploring Region III due to its great stock of mining sites, which is creating an important dynamic in terms of mining exploration.

Over US$7 billion has been invested in the region, according to government estimates. Among the main projects in the zone are Pascua Lama (Barrick Gold), Relincho (Tech Cominco), Caserones (Nippon Mining), El Morro (Xstrata Copper and Metallica Resources Limited) and Inca de Oro.

Next Sunday the National Society of Mining (SONAMI) will celebrate a “Mining Day” in the Atacama city of Tierra Amarilla, because of the leading role the area is playing in Chile’s mining industry. President Michelle Bachelet will attend the event, together with public and private authorities.