The 'Jáchal No Se Tocha' Assembly publicly denounced and sent a formal letter to Engineer Graciela Arredondo, Director of the Center for Research to Prevent Mining-Industrial Environmental Contamination (CIPCAMI). The reason for this is the omission and concealment of evidence of a new spill from the Veladero mine, operated by the multinational Barrick Gold, in the Jáchal river basin, which caused the death of thousands of fish since last November. On November 17, 2025, before a notary public, it was stated that analyses of water samples taken on November 5, 2025, in the La Palca River (before its confluence with the Blanco River) were conducted, but the results for mercury and other heavy metals were not included in the official report. By signing an initial report dated 6/11/2025, which stated that 'CIPCAMI periodically carries out water quality monitoring in the Jáchal River basin,' you have deceived. This report does not provide the mercury and other heavy metal results obtained in the first 10 months of 2025, it does not state how many monitoring activities CIPCAMI carried out in that period, and it does not provide the dates of those monitoring activities. Then, you signed a report dated 26/11/2025, stating that 'On 5/11/2025, CIPCAMI carried out water quality monitoring at the Dique Cuesta del Viento at the following points: PMP9; Point 1; Río Iglesia and Nautical Embarkation.' You concealed the mercury result in the La Palca River, violating Law 24.585, which establishes guideline levels for mining activity (where Total Mercury should not exceed 0.0001 mg/L). All these sampling points are 80 kilometers downstream from PMP7 (La Palca River, before the confluence with the Blanco River, with coordinates -29°33’29.33” -69°11’38.80”). In this report, you did not present the sample taken by CIPCAMI on 5/11/2025 at PMP7, which is the provincial sampling point of the La Palca River that comes from the Veladero mine. From this last report, it emerges that the SGAyCM, on 06/11/2025, took these samples to the SGS laboratory, which is Barrick Gold's external laboratory, to analyze anions and metals. The Barrick Gold external laboratory analyzed the water samples on 11/13/2025 and 11/20/2025 under Analysis Protocol No.: 1307/2025 with an issue date: 11/26/2025, issuing Test Report MA25-01309. You have the CIPCAMI laboratory results in your possession and have concealed or destroyed them. You have three business days to respond to this letter and specifically: who asked you to conceal or destroy that evidence, or if you concealed or destroyed it on your own initiative? With this action, you have committed several crimes typified in the Penal Code: Ideological Falsity in a Public Instrument (art. 293), for concealing a relevant truth in an official report); Aggravated Concealment (art. 277), for concealing evidence of water poisoning or making that evidence disappear); and failure to perform the duties of a public official (arts. 248 and 249).
