Cheap Land

21,000 acres of land sells for $19 in the Andes Mountains surrounding Pascua Lama. At least, that was the value placed on a tract of land Barrick recently purchased from Chilean Rodolfo Villar. Villar had intended to sell the land to Barrick for much more but the contract he signed (without reviewing) via his lawyer quoted the $19 sale price. Oddly, Villar's lawyer sold a smaller piece of land to Barrick for $650,000, according to The New York Times.

Villar, now with a new team of lawyers from Santiago, is battling Barrick in appeals courts after winning his initial lawsuit returning land title to his name. He intends to revisit the negotiating table, asking no less than $100 million for the land.

The plot in question forms an irregular, blocky "U" around the Pascua Lama protocol area and includes the central road Barrick has constructed to access the site from the San Felix Valley.
Barrick claims Villar is waging a "nuisance case" against their company. Rod Jimenez, Director of South American Operations, could not speak directly to the case since it is still in progress, but in an interview in his Santiago office, he was confident there would be no negative effects on the project.
I asked Rod if the Pascua Lama access road bisects the land in question. Rod responded ambiguously, simply stating that the lawsuit would not affect the Pascua Lama development. With investors chomping at the bit to see an $18 billion potential become mine output, it's no wonder Barrick is trying to wrap this case up as quickly as possible. But it might not be that easy.

Although a Barrick director discouraged us from believing the press, we feel The New York Times and Washington Post have an obligation to present facts in their reporting. See the following links for full stories...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/world/americas/30chile.html?ex=1311912000&en=6fcf9bbf82edb5e6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/25/AR2006122500457_pf.html