Sarah Mackenzie, Senior Manager and researcher at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at The University of Queensland, together with Dr Nigel Wight, Senior Researcher at SMI Chile, travelled to San Juan, Argentina, to deliver a masterclass for executives from the Vicuña Project, focusing on the social performance risks associated with a large-scale mining operation.
Vicuña is a binational copper mining project located high in the Andes, spanning the Atacama Region in Chile and San Juan Province in Argentina. The project is being developed through a partnership between BHP and Lundin Mining Corporation.
The masterclass forms part of a collaborative programme that SMI Chile and The University of Queensland’s Sustainable Minerals Institute have been developing over the past two years with Lundin Mining and the Lundin Foundation, supporting the organisations in addressing sustainability and social performance challenges.
The session was structured around a series of group exercises in which participants analysed and responded to three realistic crisis scenarios commonly faced by the mining industry: water-related conflict, dust emissions, and local employment.
“One of the key objectives is to ensure that social performance and its associated risks are integrated across all areas of the business,” explained Dr Nigel Wight. “The aim was to help participants understand that social issues affect the entire operation and are not solely the responsibility of sustainability or community relations teams.”
Nelson Núñez Vidal, Director of Social Performance for the Vicuña Project, highlighted the value of the initiative: “This masterclass reflects the importance we place on working collaboratively with our stakeholders as we strive to develop projects that create sustainable value together
