Authorities approve Veladero EIS

Mining authorities in northern Argentina's San Juan province have approved the environmental impact study (EIS) for Canadian miner Barrick Gold's (NYSE: ABX) Veladero gold project. "With this approval it is possible to obtain the necessary permits to proceed with construction and related works," a San Juan province mining official told BNamericas. Barrick previously said that it would start construction as soon as the EIS was approved. It will develop the 8Moz gold-silver project through its Minera Argentina subsidiary. The company has invested about US$25mn in access roads to the project. In addition, Barrick has already placed orders to the tune of US$50mn with Caterpillar and other mine equipment suppliers for the initial mine fleet. Investment of US$455mn will be required to develop Veladero, located at between 3,900m and 4,640m above sea level near the border with Chile and 300km from provincial capital San Juan. It is forecast to produce 530,000oz/y of gold for 13 years from 2006, with direct costs of US$155/oz. Barrick's other project in the area is Pascua Lama straddling the Chilean border. This is currently projected to produce 800,000oz/y gold from 2008 at capital costs of US$1.2bn.