As South American rivers dry up, miners tap ocean

By Terry Wade

CERRO LINDO, Peru (Reuters) - Vast mines in Peru and Chile that supply the world with crucial metals have started to pump water from the Pacific Ocean high into the Andes Mountains because of chronic water shortages exacerbated by climate change.

Tapping sea water allows miners to avoid relying on unpredictable rivers, which may run dry as glaciers melt, and avert clashes with farmers who draw their water from creeks in poor mountain villages.

"Water always generates conflicts between mines and farmers, so this is a good alternative because the source is limitless," said German Arce, who runs Peru's newest big mine, Cerro Lindo, owned by Peruvian miner Milpo. Ocean water is free, except for transportation and treatment.

Cerro Lindo relies entirely on sea water, filtered in a desalination plant and sent 6,000 feet into the barren Andes in a thick green hose to the mine; its zinc, copper and lead refinery; and 700 workers who live there.

In Chile, Antofagasta Minerals soon will open the $1.5 billion Esperanza gold and copper mine. Like Cerro Lindo in Peru, it will be the country's first mine totally dependent on the sea.

The Esperanza project, set in the Atacama, one of the world's driest deserts, will pump sea water through 90 miles

of pipe to an altitude of 7,545 feet.

The average mine requires millions of gallons of water during the course of its life, some 40 years, making access to reliable water increasingly crucial as global warming looms and cities grow.