“Glaciers and employment: the objections Barrick faces in closing its Pascua Lama project,” February 20, 2025

The closure of the Pascua Lama project, owned by the Canadian company Barrick, is facing strong objections from public authorities. The environmental process has received observations from 19 different entities...

This week, the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA) compiled all the observations and issued a report (ICSARA) raising further objections to the initiative and imposing new requirements...

One of the most serious concerns is that the company allegedly carried out works without holding the corresponding environmental permits...

Another objection points to the lack of water rights to extract and reuse groundwater.

The report also raised concerns about waste management: “The disposal of sludge in the area poses risks to human health and aquatic ecosystems.”...

By contrast, agencies such as the ministries and services of Transport, Energy, Agriculture, Public Works, the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), the National Tourism Service (Sernatur), the Undersecretariat for Fisheries and Aquaculture (Subpesca), and the National Forestry Corporation (Conaf) stated that they had no major objections and expressed conformity with the project’s addendum....