The expansion project for the Barrick Pueblo Viejo gold mine in Sanchez Ramirez province calls for constructing a second tailings dam in the same province to extend the duration of the mining activities through 2040. Other provinces had rejected the installation. The Earthworks blog says that 450 families living in six towns next to the Pueblo Viejo mine will have to be relocated to build the second tailings dam.
The blog mentions that geophysicist Steven Emerman visited to conduct an independent review of the Environmental Impact Study for the tailings dam and established that the Environmental Impact Study as submitted, needs to be completed because it bases decisions on documents and studies that still need to be finished. Likewise, there are no documents with details on the stability of the current tailings dam at the mine, even when its operation is used to justify the proposal for the new facility.
Emerman also argued that the safest options for tailings disposal have not been considered. In his recommendations, he makes the point that the EIS does not consider backfilling the open pit with tailings and waste rock, which would reduce the probability and consequences of a dam failure at the site. Barrick has already used this technique at another mine.
Read more on recommendations for responsible mining.
Earthworks
Barrick Pueblo Viejo
Barrick Pueblo Viejo
8 November 2023