Moving glaciers to mine gold?

• Author: Sampat, Payal
• Position: ENVIRONMENTAL INTELLIGENCE

Farmers, environmental groups, and scientists in Chile and Argentina are opposing a new mining proposal that involves relocating three large glaciers in the Andes. Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold plans to move some 1 million cubic meters of ice, equal to about half the glaciers' area, to reach the estimated 18 million ounces of gold and silver that lies below. The proposed Pascua Lama mine would straddle the Chile-Argentina border at a height of 5,000 meters and operate for at least 20 years.

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In late May, responding to Barrick's environmental impact statement, Chilean authorities urged the company to develop an alternative plan that wouldn't require moving the glaciers and that would be less polluting than the existing proposal. Farmers in the fertile valleys below fear that the mine will contaminate and disrupt water supplies and parch their land, which is nourished by glacial meltwater and stream run-off. The region, known for its grape, fig, and citrus orchards, receives sparse...