{"id":1178269,"date":"2020-04-15T11:13:57","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T16:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1020521"},"modified":"2020-04-15T11:13:57","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T16:13:57","slug":"chile-environmental-court-looks-into-escondida-alleged-breaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1178269","title":{"rendered":"Chile environmental court looks into Escondida alleged breaches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chile\u2019s environmental court\u00a0will look into the State Defence Council\u2019s (CDE) allegations that Escondida copper mine, the world\u2019s largest, has caused \u201cirreparable damage\u201d to the Punta Negra salt flat, in the northern Antofagasta region.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the lawsuit against the mine,<br \/>\nmajority owned by BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP), the government agency claims Escondida<br \/>\ngenerated between 1990 and 2017 \u201ccontinuous, cumulative, permanent and<br \/>\nirreparable environmental damage of Punta Negra.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The bone of contention is the mine\u2019s recently abandoned practice of drawing water from the salt flat. The area is one of the many natural resources that has been depleted after decades of mining activity in and around the Atacama desert, the driest place on Earth, and nearby salt flats.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Country&#8217;s Defence Council, alleges the operation has caused environmental damage by extracting fresh water from the Punta Negra salt flat.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The lawsuit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cooperativa.cl\/noticias\/pais\/region-de-antofagasta\/tribunal-ambiental-acogio-demanda-del-cde-contra-escondida-por-dano\/2020-04-14\/184307.html\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">centres on seven allegations<\/a>: severe decrease of the salar aquifer\u2019s levels;&nbsp;deterioration or impairment of saline substrate;&nbsp; total or partial depletion of wetlands and associated vegetation; ecosystem loss;&nbsp;modification or loss of wildlife habitat&nbsp;and biodiversity loss.<\/p>\n<p>Northern Chile, which hosts some of<br \/>\nthe planet\u2019s largest copper and lithium mines, is occasionally hit by heavy<br \/>\nrains and floods. According to country\u2019s water authority DGA, however, the area<br \/>\nhas become drier over the last decade. This has added an extra layer of<br \/>\ndifficulty to mining companies with projects and operations nearby, at times<br \/>\nwhen the industry\u2019s demand for water is expected to soar as ore grades decline.<\/p>\n<p>BHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/bhp-to-supply-water-for-escondida-mine-from-desalination-plant-only\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">announced in January<\/a> it would stop getting water from underneath the Atacama salt flat and will use instead desalinated water brought from&nbsp;coastal plants.<\/p>\n<p>The world\u2019s No. 1 miner\u2019s decision<br \/>\nto not renew a permit to pump 428 litres per second of underground water is<br \/>\nexpected to reduce pressure on the vast, lithium-rich salt flat. The plain is<br \/>\nhome to top lithium miners Albemarle and SQM, which also extract fresh water from<br \/>\nunderneath it.<\/p>\n<p>BHP already gets more than 40% of the water it needs from the ocean and has vowed to stop using fresh water drawn from the surface and underground in Chile by 2030. <\/p>\n<p>In 2018, the mining giant&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/chile-mulls-making-water-desalination-mandatory-for-miners-44504\/\" >spent $3.43 billion on a desalination plant<\/a>&nbsp;for the Escondida mine, which includes two pipelines to transport the water 3,200 meters above sea level. <\/p>\n<p>Other than their high cost, desalination plants also pose&nbsp;worries related to the waste miners generate. That product \u2014 brine \u2014 is usually pumped back into the reservoir where the water was taken from. This causes an imbalance in the overall water composition, which is harmful to the environment within the sourcing body. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lawsuit, filed by the Defense Council, alleges damage to the environment caused by the extraction of fresh water from the Punta Negra salt flat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[949,369,4,2640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1178269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-markets","category-miningcom","category-news","category-top-companies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1178269"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1178300,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178269\/revisions\/1178300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1178269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1178269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1178269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}