The $8.5 billion Pascua Lama project -- which straddles the border between Argentina and Chile -- is Toronto-based Barrick Gold’s most important development and is scheduled to start production in 2014, according to Mining Weekly.

Necessary rights

Barrick denies the accusation, with spokesperson Andy Lloyd telling the publication: ‘Barrick has all the necessary rights to develop the Pascua Lama mine.’
The motion, filed earlier this month by Juan Guillermo Torres, had asked the Chilean authorities to investigate claims that part of Pascua Lama is not owned by Barrick.
In a petition to force company executives to answer to the allegations in a Toronto court, Mr Torres named Barrick chairman Peter Munk and vice chairman William Birchall as well as board member Gustavo Cisneros.

Attorney general

The action was initiated on behalf Canadian mining company Mountainstar Gold and its joint venture partner, Chilean-Canadian mining investor Jorge Rodrigo Lopehandia Cortas, who is the president and chief executive of Chile Mineral Fields Canada.
The petition will now have to be approved by the Chile’s attorney general, the Supreme Court and the Foreign Ministry, as well as Canadian judicial authorities.