According to residents in the Valley of Huasco in Chile there is an alarming lack of water in the area, despite the rains in 2010. Barrick Gold has finally been fined for damaging the glaciers they depend on. The Chilean government made it a pre-condition, in approving Pascua Lama’s Environmental Impact Assessment, that the glaciers would not be touched. However as OLCA notes, the practice seems far removed from this. Yet the company is only being fined a pathetic amount for this pollution.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10694.
Barrick Gold is a Canadian company that is the world’s largest gold producer and in which a number of UK-based funds invest (see http://moneytometal.org/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=Barrick&go=Go).