THE controversy regarding a gold mining proposal in the Chilean Andes led to a violent clash on November 11, 2005, in Santiago between military police and protestors gathered to present a petition against the project to the government.

The proposed Pascua-Lama mine is to come up in the Huasco. It will affect three glaciers which contribute to irriga-tion for farmers downstream and also hurt the water supplies for 70,000 small farmers in the Huasco Valley. The Canadian company Barrick Gold, the world's second largest gold producer, had earlier said it would "move' the three glaciers