As at the beginning. So today the talks between Chile and Argentina on how to share the tax flagship project Pascua Lama gold mining, located on the border between both countries. The inability to resolve this issue prevents the start of construction, which already has a delay of two years.

In June, the Chilean government sent a proposal to Argentina that was presumed then, would be definitive and that would settle the debate. But until now there has been no response from the trans and the dialogue is cut off.

According to a source linked to the talks, the government of Cristina Fernandez would have found no satisfactory proposal. The lack of a response to concern those involved, because at least two years by the mining project, Canadian Barrick, should have initiated the work, according to the initial schedule.

From the beginning, the idea that Chile was the bulk of taxes for services are paid indivisible border here, considering that 80% of Pascua Lama is on this side of the range, while Argentina has proposed a plan “50 -50. The proposal submitted in June was relaxed that point, but apparently was insufficient for the aspirations of the neighboring country.

Added to this is that the political situation in Argentina is quite complicated after the arrest of farmers and their struggle with the government for precisely taxes. According to a source by “El Mercurio”, this is another factor that would explain the lack of dialogue in recent weeks.

The resolution of this issue is key to other bi-national projects can see the light, as it set the tone for what the criteria under which the taxes are distributed. Meanwhile, in the folder of the Binational Commission for the Mining Treaty rested other millionaires projects.

The consequences
Moreover, the delay in the definition is tax makes the cost of the project. At the beginning of the plan, the budget of the works amounted to U.S. $ 1.500 million. But the increase in the price of key inputs like steel, the outsourcing of engineering and energy made the company estimates its current cost between $ 2,300 and U.S. $ 2.400 million.

A few months ago, authorities in the Argentine province of San Juan-sharing project with the neighboring region of Atacama in Chile, Barrick said it estimated at U.S. $ 3,000 million investment to build the mine.

Canadian Barrick has said that the project has not been compromised by this situation, and furthermore, other points are still unresolved. Among them, several sectoral permits Argentina left pending.