Invited by the Lundin Foundation and in collaboration with the National University of San Juan, SMI-ICE-Chile researchers Dr. Jacques Wiertz, Dr. David Rubinos González and Dilan Campos Quiroz participated as speakers in the workshop “Water management for sustainability in mining projects”, aimed at journalists from the Cuyo region, public officials and opinion leaders. Also participating as speakers were Omar del Castillo, academic and director of the Institute of Hydraulic Research of the Faculty of Engineering of this university, and Facundo Lopez, academic and researcher at UNSJ.
The activity was divided into two sessions of four modules, where key topics were addressed such as the environmental, social and economic vision of water resources, their context in the Andean region of central-northern Argentina, the bases for water monitoring and management, and their application in mining projects.
During the last day, the SMI-ICE-Chile team visited the water flow laboratories of the UNSJ, and later, together with a group of 25 participants in the workshops, made a field visit to an estuary near the city of San Juan, where the basic notions of monitoring, flow measurement, in situ physicochemical parameters and sampling were discussed.
The Lundin Foundation promotes the ESG practices and community development programs of the Lundin Group, with the aim of ensuring that its mining operations generate local economic opportunities and contribute to the well-being of neighboring communities.
In Argentina, Lundin Mining has in its portfolio the Josemaría project, a large-scale pre-construction copper-gold-silver deposit located in the province of San Juan, approximately 9 km east of the border between Chile and Argentina.
This workshop with SMI-ICE-Chile is part of the Lundin Foundation’s commitment to promoting environmental innovation and strengthening the capacities of neighbouring communities to take advantage of opportunities and foster sustainable development. «For SMI-ICE Chile, this activity is part of the growth strategy towards other Latin American countries, always in collaboration with local actors and institutions, as occurred, in this case, with the National University of San Juan,» explains Jacques Wiertz, head of the Environmental Rehabilitation and Ecosystem Dynamics area of SMI-ICE-Chile.
