"Chile's Supreme Court suspended a key permit for Canadian miner Goldcorp Inc's El Morro copper-gold project, the latest setback for the controversial project and one of the biggest legal blows to a mining project in the world's top copper producer."

"El Morro, Goldcorp's only major asset in Chile, had its environmental permit for the $3.9 billion project struck down in February by an appeals court at the request of an indigenous agricultural community. Chile's Supreme Court upheld the ruling on Friday.

Vancouver-based Goldcorp said it has halted all development work at El Morro in light of the ruling. The project, 70 percent owned by Goldcorp and the remainder held by smaller competitor New Gold Inc, was expected to start being built in September and begin initial production in 2017."

Alexandra Ulmer, Euan Rocha, and Aftab Ahmed report for Reuters May 1, 2012. [2]