Chinchilla Challenge: results on Gold Fields relocation efforts expected in a few months – Chilean regulator

SANTIAGO, July 6 (Reuters) – An investigation by a Chilean environmental regulator into whether a group of endangered short-tailed chinchillas have been injured by attempts to relocate them so that a mine gold can be built is likely to be completed “in the next few months,” the environmental regulator’s official told Reuters.

South African company Gold Fields Ltd (GFIJ.J), which is building the $ 860 million Salares Norte mine, has been working with Chilean authorities since 2020 to relocate the animals.

The Environmental Superintendent (SMA) ordered in November 2020 to stop relocation efforts after one of the colony’s 25 giant rodents broke his leg and two others died.

Cristobal de la Maza, the chief of the regulator, told Reuters on Tuesday that he was weighing the findings of serious failures in the chinchilla rescue project. According to SMA regulations, findings of serious malfunctions can result in heavy fines or the suspension of environmental permits for the mine.

“At this time, the investigation is ending and we hope to be able to establish in the coming months whether the company has complied with the measures set out in its environmental permit,” he told Reuters in a statement.

Gold Fields declined to comment pending the SMA’s findings.

Hunted for centuries for their thick, soft fur, the short-tailed chinchilla is now listed as a critically endangered species and is only found in the highlands of the Andes.

Salares Norte is located 1,000 kilometers north of the capital Santiago, at an altitude of between 3,900 and 4,700 meters above sea level, in the Andes mountain range, near the Argentine border.

The initial environmental impact assessment of the mining project committed to relocating 25 chinchillas from the rock outcrops where they lived to the planned mine site. The project to move them, which cost $ 400,000, began last August.

Gold Fields had planned to complete construction by the end of 2022, to begin production in 2023.

Reporting by Fabian Cambero in Santiago Writing by Aislinn Laing Editing by Matthew Lewis

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