Standing on the Chilean-Argentine border, braving a cold wind, members of the Module 1A group are given a geological overview of the Pascua-Lama and Veladera deposits by Dave Heberlein and his staff from Barrick Exploration.   The central area with drill tracks is section of the Pascua-Lama mineralised system.

  Another early start saw the group embarking on the Barrick Gold Twin Otter aircraft for take off out of La Serena on the Pacific coast for the half hour flight to the the Pascua Lama camp. The camp is close to the Chile-Argentina border at an altitude of near 4000 m above sea level. The visit included a set of detailed technical briefings on the Pascua Lama and Veladero gold deposits that straddle the international border. This was followed by a field traverse of the geology and exposed mineralisation at altitudes that got to more than 5000 m, and then inspection of the deposit underground in the exploratory Alex Tunnel. In the late afternoon the group returned to the airstrip to fly back to La Serena.
  The morning of following day was devoted to a workshop on the El Indio Belt which includes the major Pascua Lama, Veladero, El Indio and Tambo epithermal gold deposits. This involved a series of presentations on both the regional setting and individual deposits, followed by the opportunity to study drill core from these deposits at the Barrick Gold base in La Serena.
  After lunch, the group boarded a chartered bus to drive 340 km north to Copiapo where they spent the night.

Photograph by Mike Porter