Barrick finally admitted it is suspending all construction activity at its Pascua Lama project, straddling the Chile-Argentina border. “The prudent course is to suspend the project, but naturally we will maintain our option” chief executive Jamie Sokalsky said. Six months ago, company officials assured that work will continue on Argentina, even though construction has been stopped on the Chilean side.
In June this year a group of shareholders filed a class action against Barrick in the US for “making false and misleading statements” about Pascua-Lama. At least nine law-firms have taken on the case. The costs of the project have risen from around US$3 billion throughout 2010 to US$8 billion by mid-2012. Some analysts say the real cost is above US$10 billion now, making it the most expensive gold mine ever built.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=12485.
Barrick Gold is a Canadian company in which there is major British investment (see http://moneytometal.org/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=Barrick&go=Go).