Mine waste safety expert Dr. Steven Emerman released findings of his independent review of Barrick Gold’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the Naranjo Tailings Storage Facility (TSF), warning that the Canadian mining giant is failing to adequately disclose the environmental and social risks posed by its planned expansion at the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic.
Lighting summary:
Barrick Gold has proposed the construction of a new facility for the co-disposal of 344.7 million metric tons of combined tailings and 452.7 million metric tons of potentially acid generating (PAG) waste rock behind a dam with a height of 157 meters at the open-pit Pueblo Viejo gold-silver mine in the Dominican Republic. The Environmental Impact Study (EIS) does not consider the alternative of backfill of the exhausted open pits and quarries, although such consideration is required by the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management (GISTM) and backfill could be carried out at less than 35% of the cost of a new aboveground facility.