In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from rivers, fed by 2 glaciers. Water is a most precious resource, and wars will be fought for it. Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the area.
Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other minerals. To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the glaciers - something never conceived of in the history of the world - and to make 2 huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine's rubbish tip.
The project is called PASCUA LAMA.
The company is called Barrick Gold. The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose members is George Bush Senior. The Chilean Government has approved the project to start this year, 2006.
The only reason it hasn't started yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution. If they destroy the glaciers, they will not just destroy the source of especially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the 2 rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process.
Every last gram of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it is. They will only be left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses.
The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been forbidden to make a TV appeal by a ban from the Ministry of the Interior. Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from international justice. The world must know what is happening in Chile. The only place to start changing the world is from here.
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Please, will the 100th person to receive and sign the petition, send it to
to be forwarded to the Chilean Government.
No to Pascua Lama Open-cast mine in the Andean Cordillera on the Chilean-Argentine frontier.
We ask the Chilean Government not to authorize the Pascua Lama to protect the whole of 3 glaciers, the purity of the water of the San Felix Valley and El Transito, the quality of the agricultural land of the region of Atacama, the quality of life of the Diaguita people and of the whole population of the region.
Signature, City, Country 1) Katharine Proudfoot, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK 2) Laura Cole, London, UK 3) David Platt, London, UK 4) Diane Platt, Manchester, UK 5) Tanya Corker, Manchester, UK 6) Nicola Hargreaves, UK 7) Nicholas Jones, UK 8) Johann Don-Daniel, Germany 9) Ashley Berger, Germany 10) Sarah Downie, Leeds, UK 11) Paula Delahunty, Bingley, UK 12) John O'Driscoll, Bingley, Uk 13) Jordan-Lee Delahunty, Bingley, UK 14) Claire Mulvey, Bradford, UK 15) Marie Malcolm Bradford, UK 16) Ann Clowes, Halifax UK 17) Jayne McGee, Brighouse UK 18) Jason Barratt Oldham UK 19) Lindsay Torrance, Rochdale UK 20) Maggie Ford, Rochdale, U.K. 21) Barry Cook, Todmorden, U.K. 22) Shelley Burgoyne, Todmorden, U.K. 23) Lisa Stuart, Potes, Spain. 24) Michael Stuart, Potes, Spain. 25) Renee Engl, Byron Bay, Australia 26) Adrian Begg, Brunswick Heads, Australia 27) Riana Begg, Brunswick Heads, Australia 28) Oriel Paterson, Brunswick Heads, Australia 29) Alicia Paterson, Brisbane, Australia 30) Lyneve Robinson, Sydney, Australia 31) Jennifer Moalem, Sydney, Australia 32) Sharyn Wilson, Sydney, Australia 33) Vicki Watson Taylor 34) Simone Carter, Sydney, Australia 35) Marietta Putignano King, Los Angeles, CA 36) Kevin King, Los Angeles, CA 37) Alesha Kneisel, Los Angeles, CA 38) Paula Vasquez-Meeks, Los Angeles, CA 39) Keren LeClair-Green, Los Angeles, CA 40) Valee More, Auckland, NZ 41) Steve Hibbs, Slaithwaite, UK 42) Marie Allainguillaume, West Yorkshire, UK 43) Ian Morley, West Yrokshire, UK 44) Sunil Prasad, Suva, Fiji Islands 45) Lice Cokanasiga, Suva, Fiji Islands 46) Sereana Cokanasiga, Suva, Fiji 47) Pat Fitzgibbon Rarotonga, Cook Islands. 48) Maike Thoene, Valparaiso Chile 50) Emma Lockley, New Zealand 51) Mat Shaw, Melbourne, Australia 52) Hayden Forster, Melbourne, Australia 53) Jazmin Forster, Melbourne, Australia 54) Nicole Shaw, Melbourne, Australia 55) Adam Doherty, Melbourne, Australia 56) Stephanie Farrar, Melbourne, Australia 57) Daniel Kearney, Melbourne Australia 58) stella, melb, australia 59) Jo Windred, Melbourne , Australia 60) Bridget Melling-Williams, Melbourne, Australia 61) Shiralee Saul, Melbourne Australia 62) Julie Shiels, Melbourne, Australia 63) Elizabeth Hoban, Melbourne, Australia 64) Gregory Phillips, Melbourne, Australia 65) Juan Baeza, Melbourne, Australia 66) Samuel Baeza, Worthing, UK 67) Jody Martin, Bognor Regis, UK 68) Leah Masters, Bognor Regis, UK 69) Shenel Durmush, Bognor Regis,UK 70) Samantha Fallick, Chichester, UK 71) Leon Trusler, Chichester, UK 72) Kimberley Stares, Tangmere, UK 73) Heather Dawson, Warwick, Bermuda 74) Charlotte Rickward, Bermuda 75) Anna Fenton, Warwick, UK 76) Kate Griffiths, St Albans, UK 77) Anthony Griffiths, Bath, UK 78) Angela Tam, Hong Kong
