Battle over gold under glaciers is far from over

PR battle over ‘glacier’
For months, the controversy centered on the ice itself. Barrick has insisted that the ice fields — Toro 1, with an area of 138,500 square meters, Toro 2 at 129,200 square meters and Esperanza at 78,900 square meters — can’t be called glaciers. The company prefers the terms ice reservoirs, ice masses or glaciarets.

Glacier, however, is the proper scientific term, according to Cedomir Marangunic, one of Chile’s top glaciologists — “glaciaret or reservoir are not used by the scientific community, really.”

“A glacier is a mass of ice that moves slowly down a mountain,” he added. “A glacier requires a depth of at least seven to 11 meters (yards) to be considered such, and in this case, the Toro 2 is in that range, the others are around 20 meters deep.”

Oceana spokesman Pablo Andrada said Barrick was reluctant to call them glaciers “because everybody knows a glacier is something important, permanent, that must be protected, unlike a simple ice mass or reservoir.”

No one expects Barrick to let the glaciers get in the way of the gold reserves at Pascua Lama. Oceana engineer Fortt figures Barrick will dig up “to the rim of the glaciers, and then either stop or start an underground operation.”

Thousands of jobs promised
Meanwhile, opinions are split in the Huasco valley. Many in the remote area — 445 miles north of Santiago — see the mine as essential to the local economy. Barrick has promised 4,000 construction jobs, and once production starts in 2009, 1,500 more jobs for the 20 years it will take to mine the gold.

“Yes, there are people here who support the mine,” admitted Inostroza. “They do so because they think the mine will bring jobs and other benefits. But deep in their hearts they know there will be terrible pollution.”

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