Capital-intensive mining projects involve putting in a lot of money upfront (often quite literally sinking it into the ground), and hopefully starting to reap significant profits some years down the line when production and sales begin. Between those two points - starting a project and making money out of it - there is inevitably a period of risk, nervousness and uncertainty. In some of the more difficult cases when things are not going well, investors must decide whether to go on spending - or to cut their losses. This is exactly the decision confronting the Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold Corp, which announced at the end of October that after spending over US$5bn on developing the Pascua Lama gold mine, straddling the Chilean-Argentine border, it has put the entire development on hold. End of preview - This article contains approximately 1440 words.
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