Bottom Line

Alot of money floats around these imaginary mines. Its all so speculative. And for many reasons: Is the gold really there? If so, can we get to it? Then will the market still be favorable? Can we curb our input into the market so as to not flood it and thus dilute the value? With the gold still buried and production still years off, a safe investor environment free of challenges to the delicately woven social, political, and environmental fabric means everything. If the mine gets bad press and/or the public (consumers) begins to question the true expenses behind gold trading, then ideally investor confidence will sour.

This is a lofty goal for our photo-documentary - to raise awareness and thus reduce the appeal of a major commodity/luxury item. We don't necessarily have anything against Barrick as long as they haven't been lining the pockets of key players in the affected indigenous communities regarding the mines' impacts. As long as there's a demand for gold jewelry and companies and banks will invest in gold, there will be massive companies with the equipment, money, political power, and public relations deception teams to tear apart mountains, move glaciers, destroy watersheds, and corrupt local communities. Maybe by seeing what is lost - the pristine landscape at Pascua Lama versus the destroyed one at Veladero - some people will become more aware of their luxury item's origin and the unseen costs of getting it from the source to the display case.