I haven't seen the River Magajita lately so I won't comment on the veracity of that. The pictures Pichardo posted are Barrick's propagandda pictures. Here's my first hand testimony...Barrick is using up to 25000 gallons of water a minute off Hatillo Lake. They're quickly depleting the lake at very high pace. Here's a picture I took this past December.
See those cement walls? About two years ago the water was about half way up that wall.
Here's another one.
This part where there's now a road was all covered with water. The water used to be up to the tree line in the background. As a matter of fact right where I stood to take the picture is where the "Ferry Boat" used to be anchored. You can see it in this older picture.
Barrick built a water deposit for its use on the plant. All water is recycled and when the saturation point is reached when it needs to be treated, it goes to a Barrick built water treatment pond, after which it's released into the water stream.
The pictures above are the result of a prolonged drought afflicting the region, not Barrick's sourcing of the water.
Keep in mind that Barrick's mine in the DR represents the latest in mining technologies up to the minute. They employed the next generation of mining practices, which seek to address the long standing practices from older mining operations without taking the protection of the environment around them.
The last review of the U.N. recommended monitors provided that the continued operation of the mine and their efforts to address these long standing problems, have contributed to as much as 75% in the recovery of the environment in and around of the old mine operations due to Barrick.
The actual plan was to conclude when the mine gets shut down, at which point the recovery and addressing of the said problems would be 100%.
