Agua Vale Mas Que Oro - Impacts to the valley of Huasco

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Impacts to the valley of Huasco

Other impacts

a) Environmental Impacts

Air

Because of the work in the mine there are emissions at the air of dust and gases, that harm not only the salute, but also support el greenhouse effect.

Dust: Because of the movation of the rock and the using of the paths is produced dust : 15,8 tons each day of MP-10^3 (EIA 2-23). The project has a distance to the next village of 35 kms(EIA 2-2), not is much but the winds in the mountains are very strong and you shouldn't forget the mining workers that works in this condicions. Further it is not determined in what way the dust influences the life of the glaciers. In Tierra Amarilla, a comunity in the mining valley of Copiapó (Chile) a higher concentration of aluminium was found in the lungs of many children.
Greenhouse effect: Because of the emisions of the mine of 4,4 tons of anhidric sulfuric (anhidrido sulfuroso / Schwefeldioxid) each day up to a maximum of 8,3 tons (EIA 2-23) grows the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

In the period of he operation the project needs a big amount of combustible for the mining work: 6.600.000 liters of petroleum and 90.000 liters of gasoline each month (EIA 2-13). It's clear that this big amount of energy warms the atmosphere. In what way influences this in the climate and the glaciers?

Flora and Fauna

The mining work affects the ecosystems of the cordillera. For example, Barrick has constructed an airport over humedales. These are ecosystems that play an important role in the purification of water that springs out of the cordillera in natural acid form.

b) Social Impacts:

All of the impacts identified will have some harmful affect on the people and their qualtity of life. The traffic and mining costumes will influence in the typical way of life in the valley: goodbye to the silence of the valley, new places for drugs and prostitution...