Impact Of Barrick Gold’s Pascua-Lama Decision On Argentina And Chile

Last week’s announcement by Barrick Gold to halt their ”Pascua-Lama project on the border of Chile and Argentina has highlighted startling divergences between the two South American countries over mining and energy investment,” reports Reuters.

“In a role reversal of sorts, nationalistic Buenos Aires is championing the now-dormant Canadian-owned project, while stricter environmental norms in business-friendly Santiago paved the way for the project’s suspension.”

The announcement “was a blow to Argentina’s government at a time when it is seeking to attract tens of billions of dollars to develop its shale oil and gas resources.”

The week’s biggest mover on the weekly Global Precious Metals MMI® was the price of US silver, which saw a 3.2 percent decline. This comes on the heels of a 2.9 percent increase the week before. The price of Chinese silver fell 3.0 percent after rising 2.4 percent the week before. Following a 2.2 percent increase in the week prior, the price of Indian silver fell 2.2 percent last week. The price of Japanese silver fell 1.4 percent after rising 3.6 percent the week before.

Following a 2.7 percent increase in the week prior, the price of US gold bullion fell 2.7 percent last week. The price of Chinese gold bullion fell 2.2 percent after rising 1.8 percent the week before. Following a 2.4 percent increase in the week prior, the price of Indian gold bullion fell 2.1 percent last week. The price of Japanese gold bullion fell 0.3 percent after rising 0.8 percent the week before.

The price of Japanese platinum bar rose 1.6 percent after falling 0.6 percent during the previous week. Closing out the third week of rising prices, the price of Chinese platinum bar increased by 0.3 percent. The price of US platinum bar did not change since the previous week.

After a 0.6 percent decline, Chinese palladium bar closed out the week. Following a 0.4 percent increase in the week prior, the price of US palladium bar fell 0.5 percent last week. The price of Japanese palladium bar fell 0.2 percent after rising 2.7 percent the week before.