[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Chile [official website, in Spanish] on Tuesday halted the development of a gold and copper mine until proper consultation can be conducted with indigenous and local communities. The mine, owned by Canadian gold producer Goldcorp [corporate website], is expected to be worth approximately USD $4 billion. However, the Diaguita community in northern Chile filed a request to halt mining, arguing that the mine could cause pollution in a local river. The Diaguita also contends that local communities were never consulted on the El Morrow mine. A lower court rejected the request to halt, prompting the Diaguita’s appeal. The Supreme Court held that Goldcorp will need to conduct proper consultation before an environmental permit can be awarded.

Chile has faced numerous environmental concerns in the past. Goldcorp has halted construction on the El Morrow site twice already, in 2012 and 2013. Last year work on the Pascua-Lama gold mine was halted due to environment irregularities [AP report]. Additionally, the environmental impact of power plants has been at issue in Chile recently. The Supreme Court of Chile in August 2012 rejected a plan [JURIST report] to build a thermoelectric power plant in the Atacama region of the country, citing concern about potential pollution. In April of that year the Supreme Court of Chile ruled that a hydroelectric dam in Patagonia does not violate the constitutional rights [JURIST report] of the environmental groups opposing the project.