FX.co ★ Chilean Indians don't want to be the last of the Diaguitas

The Indians of Chile have stood up for their rights in court. The Diaguita tribe representatives won the case against the world's largest gold mining company. The Copiapo Court of Appeals in Atacama Province rejected an appeal brought by the lawyers of Barrick Gold Corp. who tried to contest forced cessation of works at the Pascua-Lama mine after the locals' lawsuit. The judge ruled that the company has to develop the universal freshwater management system before moving forward with the above-mentioned mine. Besides, the court decreed that the environmental license issued by the corresponding regulator must get checked and revised. That procedure may take about two years. Despite the fact that the Barrick Gold representatives declared that the environmental protection plan is ready, the court did not change its verdict. The Diaguita Indians live at the foot of the Andes in the Atacama Desert, so mountain rivers are the only source of freshwater. The natives, who felt apprehensive about possible ecocatastrophe caused by Pascua-Lama developing, went to the court in order to demand glacier preservation from the gold mining corporation.