Barrick Gold has been accused of a number of environmentally unsound practices by environmental groups. The company has countered accusations by activists, challenging the accuracy of criticisms. It reported environment-related spending of USD $89 million in 2009.
Criticisms include poisonous spills of cyanide, mercury and other heavy metals, leading to environmental damage and the poisoning of human populations.
Chile's environmental regulator has blocked Canada-based Barrick Gold Corporation's multi-billion dollar mining project and imposed its maximum fine, citing "serious" environmental violations.
After a four-month investigation, Chile's Environmental Superintendent said on Friday that all construction work on the Pascua-Lama mine must stop until Barrick builds the systems it promised to put in place for containing contaminated water.
Chile's government also imposed a fine of eight billion pesos ($16.36m), the highest possible under Chilean law.
Chile blocks Barrick Gold mining project
Also the company is temporarily suspending construction activity on its controversial US$8.5bn Pascua-Lama project over the Chile-Argentina border.
Barrick has faced legal action from indigenous communities that want the project shut down due to the effects on the environment and surrounding communities. The company’s mining methods can cause leaking of untreated waste materials in local water supplies, acid drainage, and a reduction in air quality. The gold mining process involves breaking up mountainous rocks with dynamite, with the ore then treated with water and chemicals to separate the minerals and metals. This produces a large amount of waste material which is often stored in artificial lakes or treated to be able to circulate water systems.
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Papaua New Guinea 2007 (from Corp Watch)
“After 14 years, the mine waste has slowly torn the hills from under the local inhabitants and turned the small valley below, an extension of the Porgera Valley, into a choked river of dirt creeping toward the Gulf of Papua two hundred miles away.
The destruction is fueled by gold. Mining for gold is one of the world’s most grotesque industries, consuming vast resources and producing mountains of waste to produce a small amount of soft, pliable metal with few practical uses. To make one gold wedding band, at least 20 tons of earth must be excavated