Barrick Pueblo Viejo "ponds"

Oct 11, 2010
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The water quality is abysmal. The quantity of water has reached levels never recorded. The rivers
are dry throughout the nation. Are you going to bamboozle us with a new govt initiative to change
ocean water into potable water. What follows is one example of how by putting economy ahead of
ecology and using the resource base without an eye towards replenishing the same leads to
catastrophe.

The process to extract gold is one of many causes which has brought the quality and quantity of
water to its current tragic state. The toxic and environmentally destructive methods used to mine
gold has destroyed the quality of water and the quantity of life within those bodies. These are local
events affecting the immediate vicinity of the mine but multiply these methods to put economy
ahead of ecology times the area of the DR and the product is the current dismal state of water.

The environmental study underway of the Presa de Hatillo and surrounding area which I alluded to in my last post, addresses this issue in great detail. It includes the documentation of some problems encountered with the tailings dams (that hold back the cyanide ponds that are all over Pueblo Viejo project) and which you won't see mentioned by Barrick Gold.

There is an older thread related to some of the drastic changes in that area especially regarding La Presa de Hatillo and the surrounding rivers. When the survey is published I will link to it in that thread so as not to go too off topic here. However I will post four interesting images from the ongoing survey which already contains hundreds of images and documents.

Comparison of the size of the cities of Cotui and Bonao, the Hatillo reservoir and Barrick Pueblo Vijeo Mine
25a3z3q.jpg


Comparison of the largest tailings pond (containing cyanide contaminated water) to Hatillo reservoir
1ql3yh.jpg


View of several tailings ponds at the Pueblo Viejo Mine
1zqzfwg.jpg


View of the mining projects surrounding Hatillo Reservoir
el5umh.jpg


Except for one tailings pond left over from the old Rosario mine, ALL of the tailings ponds in the Pueblo Viejo project were excavated from fertile, tree covered land and created by Barrick. They did not contain one drop of water before the extensive mining project started. Now they contain and process millions of gallons of cyanide contaminated water.
 
Jan 3, 2003
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Comparison of the size of the cities of Cotui and Bonao, the Hatillo reservoir and Barrick Pueblo Vijeo Mine
25a3z3q.jpg


Comparison of the largest tailings pond (containing cyanide contaminated water) to Hatillo reservoir
1ql3yh.jpg


View of several tailings ponds at the Pueblo Viejo Mine
1zqzfwg.jpg


View of the mining projects surrounding Hatillo Reservoir
el5umh.jpg


Excellent in depth post. And Pichardo's response to this is that this has been the natural order of
things since the founding of the Republic. But he is deadly wrong. For centuries, the population of
the DR never ever exceeded the underlying resource base. Even up to the 19th century, when that
wandering American wrote his journaled experiences around the DR, he clearly states the
abundance of potable clear water. He wrote how fishes in Ozama were abundant. He wrote on how
the abundance of fruit and vegetables were everywhere to see.

Anecdotally, reports come out from just 50 years ago how fruits, vegetables, and small game were
abundant in all parts of the countryside. The land has been stripped of its usefulness to the point
that the waterways are polluted as you have shown. Rivers have been diverted and dammed for
energy production and agriculture usage yet there is no vision to maintain the underlying resource
base and conserve it. It has been exploited and systematically eroded to create a false sense
of economic growth. It has been clearly a slash and burn mentality.

We haven't even touched on the forest canopy and its decline. In Constanza, my home base,
every year the temperature slowly creeps higher and it gets hotter. The forest timber continues to
be cut down and stripped for commercial use. Pichardo has no response because to create his
economic growth model, the underlying resource base has to be destroyed. You can not grow any
economy as quickly as you have in the DR without annihilating the resources upon which the
economy depends.

This is why we harp on this issue over and over again. It is not sustainable. It is ecologically
destructive. It has no long term view of the devastation that is being produced upon the DR. This
is false growth because it is not permanent but temporary in a Malthusian view. The population will
continue to grow until every conceivable resource has been laid waste to by a population of people
who were never intended to inhabit the DR. It is just far too many people for the DR to sustain it in
a way that is healthy to the land and the resource base upon which the land depends to
regenerate itself.
 
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AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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The environmental study underway of the Presa de Hatillo and surrounding area which I alluded to in my last post, addresses this issue in great detail. It includes the documentation of some problems encountered with the tailings dams (that hold back the cyanide ponds that are all over Pueblo Viejo project) and which you won't see mentioned by Barrick Gold.

There is an older thread related to some of the drastic changes in that area especially regarding La Presa de Hatillo and the surrounding rivers. When the survey is published I will link to it in that thread so as not to go too off topic here. However I will post four interesting images from the ongoing survey which already contains hundreds of images and documents.

Comparison of the size of the cities of Cotui and Bonao, the Hatillo reservoir and Barrick Pueblo Vijeo Mine
25a3z3q.jpg


Comparison of the largest tailings pond (containing cyanide contaminated water) to Hatillo reservoir
1ql3yh.jpg


View of several tailings ponds at the Pueblo Viejo Mine
1zqzfwg.jpg


View of the mining projects surrounding Hatillo Reservoir
el5umh.jpg


Except for one tailings pond left over from the old Rosario mine, ALL of the tailings ponds in the Pueblo Viejo project were excavated from fertile, tree covered land and created by Barrick. They did not contain one drop of water before the extensive mining project started. Now they contain and process millions of gallons of cyanide contaminated water.



After re-reading this with the current excessive rain and flooding in much of DR, does anyone know if the cyanide retention ponds/dams are in any danger of overflowing? *Or, God forbid, the dams bursting?*
 
Oct 11, 2010
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After re-reading this with the current excessive rain and flooding in much of DR, does anyone know if the cyanide retention ponds/dams are in any danger of overflowing? *Or, God forbid, the dams bursting?*

More water than they can drink or flush right now in that map and areas who showed...

Yes Pichardo . . .

And more water than the Pueblo Viejo TOXIC tailings ponds/dams can retain . . . "in that map and areas who showed..."

While this one off event is temporarily supplying much needed water to the area, it is also creating an acutely dangerous situation for the nearby residents.

1zqzfwg.jpg


Each one of the seven red circles is a tailings pond already filled with toxic byproducts (cyanaide & others) to near capacity BEFORE the rains. Although I can not confirm anything YET, I am sure this is presenting a huge problem for Barrick as there were already some problems reported with the northern most tailings pond (the oldest) and leakage. It is very possible that several have already overflowed. As the weather clears more information will be available, although Barrick themselves will remain typically silent.
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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Yes Pichardo . . .

And more water than the Pueblo Viejo TOXIC tailings ponds/dams can retain . . . "in that map and areas who showed..."

While this one off event is temporarily supplying much needed water to the area, it is also creating an acutely dangerous situation for the nearby residents.

Each one of the seven red circles is a tailings pond already filled with toxic byproducts (cyanaide & others) to near capacity BEFORE the rains. Although I can not confirm anything YET, I am sure this is presenting a huge problem for Barrick as there were already some problems reported with the northern most tailings pond (the oldest) and leakage. It is very possible that several have already overflowed. As the weather clears more information will be available, although Barrick themselves will remain typically silent.

I was afraid that would be the answer, please keep us posted if you learn anything definitive.
 
Oct 11, 2010
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The images below are of the northern most tailings pond I was referring to in my previous post. This particular tailings pond was constructed by the old Rosario mining project and to different standards compared to the tailings ponds constructed by Barrick.

The first image is from 2014, the second image is from earlier this year (2016) before the current rains. For some scale, you can see some vehicles parked at the lower right of the second image.

2mmh2lz.jpg


zveq1j.jpg


I don't want to go off topic since this is the "Recession" thread but this is a real threat due to it's older fabrication and the recent rainfall.

I have hundreds of images and photos of the Barrick Pueblo Viejo mine showing the proximity of the tailings ponds to rivers that feed into the Hatillo resevoir as well as the evolution of the entire project. The progression in size and scope is amazing and should be cause for concern, but again, off topic for this thread.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
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I don't want to go off topic since this is the "Recession" thread but this is a real threat due to it's older fabrication and the recent rainfall.

I have hundreds of images and photos of the Barrick Pueblo Viejo mine showing the proximity of the tailings ponds to rivers that feed into the Hatillo resevoir as well as the evolution of the entire project. The progression in size and scope is amazing and should be cause for concern, but again, off topic for this thread.



Easily remedied, now in its own thread in Environment Forum*
 

Drake

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Jan 1, 2002
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Came across this post and felt compelled to repond. Lots of mis information from people who know little what thye are talking about.  Firstly you will not find any cyanide in any of the ponds as it is distroyed within the process plant before it is discharged. Since the 80's all gold mining operations are required to do this.    The government responsibilty pond known as Mejita is the only pond that is not red circled which is the most unstable if any.  The dark red pond is part of the barrick circuit that is pumped into the process plant built by them.  Look at the floating pumps to the left.  All ponds are designed for extreme weather and sismic conditions and have safety net designs like emergency slipways to catchment ponds.  The El Llagal tailings facitity is probably the safest and best built dam the DR.