STOP PASCUA LAMA

Dear friends who care about our earth.

Judge for yourself if you want to take action.

In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from 2 rivers, fed by 2 glaciers.

Water is a most precious resource, and wars will be fought for it.

Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the area.

Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other minerals. To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the glaciers – something never conceived of in the history of the world and to make 2 huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine’s rubbish tip.

The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called Barrick Gold.

The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose members is George Bush Senior.

The Chilean Government has approved the project to start this year, 2006.

The only reason it hasn’t started yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution. If they destroy the glaciers, they will not just destroy the source of specially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the 2 rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process.

Every last gramme of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it is. They will only be left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been forbidden to make a TV appeal by a ban from the Ministry of the Interior.

Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from international justice.

The world must know what is happening in Chile. The only place to start changing the world is from here.

We ask you to circulate this message amongst your friends in the following way. Please copy this text, paste it into a new email adding your signature and send it to everyone in your address book . Please will the 100th person to receive and sign the petition send it to noapascualama@yahoo.ca to be forwarded to the Chilean government.

No to Pascua Lama Open-cast mine in the Andean Cordillera on the Chilean-Argentine frontier.

We ask the Chilean Government not to authorize the Pascua Lama project to protect the whole of 3 glaciers , the purity of the water of the SanFelix Valley and El Transito, the quality of the agricultural land of the region of Atacama, the quality of life of the Diaguita people and of the whole population of the region.

Signature, City, Country

1) Katharine Proudfoot, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
2) Laura Cole, London, UK
3) David Platt, London, UK
4) Diane Platt, Manchester, UK
5) Tanya Corker, Manchester, UK
6) Nicola Hargreaves, UK
7) Nicholas Jones, UK
8) Johann Don-Daniel, Germany
9) Ashley Berger, Germany
10) Sarah Downie, Leeds, UK
11) Belle Paterson, Leeds, UK
12) Claire Jenkins, Leeds, UK
13) Carlos Ch?vez, Leeds, UK
14) Anita Howard, Leeds, UK
15) Tertia Montgomery, London, UK
16) Karen Boyle, Leeds, UK
17) Andrea Hamblett, Leeds, UK
18) Samantha Hemingway, Gibraltar
19) Debbie Neiman, Brighton, Uk
20) Bob Poplett Brisbane Australia
21) Michael Berry, Brisbane Australia
22) Christie Cole, Dublin, Ireland
23) Melinda Rekdahl, Brisbane, Australia
24) Sarah Forder, Brisbane, Australia
25) Carolyn Forder, Brisbane, Australia
26) Todd Owen, Nelson, New Zealand
27) Dominic Szeker, Dunedin, New Zealand
28) Aleeza Stettner, Auckland, New Zealand
29) Elanor, Te Rapuora, Aotearoa
30) Julie, Te Rapuora, Aotearoa
31) Tristan Lockerbie, Aotearoa , New Zealand
32) Jonathon Acorn,Auckland,New Zealand
33) Christine Small, Ruby Bay, Nelson, New Zealand
34) Jaqui Barrett, Auckland, New Zealand
35) Marion Bridge, Waiheke Island, New Zealand.
36) Pam & Rod Scholey, Arundel, UK
37) Linda Savage, Bognor Regis, UK
38) Alison Mobbs Portsmouth, UK
39) Emily Terry, Bognor Regis, UK
40) Dharma Gaynes, Glen Rose, Texas
41) Claude PEPIN, Vermont, USA
42) Elaine Seiler, New York, USA
43) Claire Leimbach Australia
44) Susanne Sattler. Switzerland
45) Richard Mordaunt, Australia
46) Sally Oliver
47) Martine Flint
48) Margarita De Bennett, UK
49) Leigh Brandon, London, UK
50) Mark Preston, London, UK
51) Annie Hibbert, London UK
52) Anne Barr, Colombia
53) Jenny James, Colombia
54) Piedad Morales, Colombia
55) Saudhy Miranda, Colombia
56) Katie James, Colombia
57) Louise James, Colombia
58) Alice James, Colombia
59) Becky Garcia, Ireland
60) Fin Costello, Colombia
61) Gary Cutriss, Colombia
62) Gerardo Ariza, Colombia
63) Emel Kahraman, Turkey
64) Robert Banford, England
65) Graham Alexander, England
66) William Bowles, London, UK