By Frik Els
MINING.com
Top gold miner Barrick Gold has met with officials from Chile’s mining ministry last week in an effort to restart construction of its troubled Pascua Lama project in South America.
Barrick Gold stopped construction of Pascua Lama in October as part of its debt-reduction program and after fierce opposition from local communities and environmental groups.
The Toronto-based miner has already spent $5 billion on the project which straddles the Chilean-Argentinian border which could have a final bill in excess of $8.5 billion after a series of cost overruns.
Chile’s new mines minister Aurora Williams, who was appointed in March after President Michele Bachelet assumed power told Reuters in her first interview with a foreign news organization: