Gold Fields's Chilean gold mine expansion project is affected by the discovery of endangered chinchilla

Gold Fields Ltd. A $860 million flagship expansion project in Chile stumbled upon chinchilla, which was hunted to the brink of extinction for its precious fur.

The Johannesburg-based gold miner must come up with a new plan to remove more than 20 short-tailed chinchillas from its north Salares mine after Chile's environmental agency halted its initial relocation plan after 2/4 of animal deaths. The project in the Atacama region of the country is one of the last wild sanctuaries for blue-gray fur rodents.

The plan, which will be submitted to the environment department, will involve the relocation of chinchillas to about 5km (3 miles) from the mine, where there are another 100 rodents, Gold Fields said.

Despite the challenges of relocating the endangered chinchilla, Gold Fields said it was expected to start producing gold at Salares Norte in early 2023. The mine's production is key to helping CEO Chris Griffith achieve his goal of increasing annual production to about 2.8 million ounces.