They carry 100 tons of mercury from San Juan to Chile without passing through Mendoza

A cargo of 100 tonnes of mercury comes from the Veladero mine in San Juan, to the port of San Antonio, Chile, through northern Argentina instead of crossing the shortest route, via Mendoza.

The waste of this highly polluting chemical has been deposited since 2012 and the mine operators have decided to send it to Germany for their last deposit. A Swiss company specializing in this type of operations is responsible for carrying out the operation, which will involve a tour of six Argentine provinces up to the Jama Pbadage, where the trucks will cross the mountain range up to In Chile.

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"This is the first time we will export mercury for its final elimination," said Marín Álvarez, executive director of Minera Andina del Sol, Barrick Gold's exclusive trade alliance of Canada and Shandong Gold from China, to the newspaper Clarín. the Veladero Mine, which experienced three accidental spills of cyanide between 2015 and 2017.

The shipment of mercury-containing tanks in Germany will cost $ 1.5 million. "There will be several trucks (estimated at between three and four) to transport 100 tons of mercury, out of a total of 440 tons that we have stored," Álvarez explained. The liquid mercury caravan will travel more than 2,400 kilometers to the port of San Antonio in the Chilean region of Valparaíso, located just 775 kilometers from the mine.

The cargo left Wednesday at dawn of San Juan to cross La Rioja, Catamarca, Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy. It will reach Chile by the pbadage of Jama (4,200 meters altitude) to the Chilean port located only 108 kilometers from the capital, Santiago. "The company informed us that it had opted for this route because it is the safest and the least risky," said the general manager of the Veladero Mine.

It drew attention that it was decided to take charge by all of the Argentine north instead of crossing direct route to the port of San Antonio by Col Cristo Redentor, to Mendoza. Secretary of the Environment, Humberto Mingorance, stated that there was no request for authorization in this regard, although they granted him the corresponding controls, as the Clarín reported after consulting the provincial executive.

From Chile, the boat will cross: Peru, Panama, the Bahamas, the United States, Holland, Belgium, France and Switzerland. Hazardous waste will undergo a stabilization process in Switzerland, where liquid mercury will be converted to mercury sulphide and returned to a solid state. Then he will be transferred to a salt mine in Germany, where he will be buried.