Soledad Jeria, General Manager - Business Development, Rio Tinto
How has demand changed over the past year?
With the decarbonization challenge of the world, we are experiencing a massive increase in demand. According to McKinsey, the copper mining industry needs to deliver an additional 10 million t/y by 2030. To meet this challenge, together with the current challenge we are experiencing in Chile, where assets are aging, ore grades are declining, and production is falling, technology becomes a key enabler to meet this increase in demand. At Rio Tinto, we are fully committed to this by developing our leaching technology and working to implement coarse flotation technology that substantially increases our current recovery processes.
Demand has become more environmentally conscious, and with this, our clients are demanding us to be as sustainable as possible, with the environment, with the community, and with our civil society. In this regard, Rio Tinto, at its Kennecott asset, was the first one to obtain the Copper Mark certificate. Copper Mark is an assurance framework that promotes the responsible production of copper.
Can you describe operations at Escondida last year?
Ore grades are declining substantially, the pit is getting deeper, and as with most aging pits, geotechnical stability becomes more of an issue. Escondida has well understood the challenges, and critical decisions are coming ahead that will define the growth pathway of the asset.
The teams right now are focused on opening optionality, maintaining the production levels, and the competitiveness of Escondida in the copper industry.
What are the pros and cons of Chile as a jurisdiction?
More can be done to facilitate exploration initiatives, provide for longer-term tax invariability, streamlining the environmental approval process for new projects and expansions, as well as development of a strategy for broad access to water desalinization. The human resource capabilities of mining companies, contractors, and suppliers are world class.
Aurora Davidson, CEO, Amerigo Resources
Can you describe Amerigo’s results over 2023?
We had solid operational results in the first quarter from Minera Valle Central (MVC), with a production of 16.5 million pounds of copper and 300,000 pounds of molybdenum. Over the last three years, our operational results at MVC have become highly consistent, which is extremely important in our industry, given that we always need to deal with changes in commodity prices.
How is secondary mining an area of opportunity for Chile?
Market studies have shown that significant gaps between demand and supply can be expected in the case of copper. One of the opportunities to reduce this gap will be through secondary mining, which MVC has successfully done since 1992 by recovering copper from copper tailings. With annual copper production of around 30,000 tonnes, MVC’s production is roughly that of a mid-sized copper mine.
How is Amerigo working to increase women in leadership?
At Amerigo, the CEO and CFO are women, which one could argue is the ultimate proof that a company has no leadership gender bias. At MVC, 10% of the workforce is female. We need to increase that number and also reach a point where women are the best candidates for leadership positions. We are tackling this in the hiring process by ensuring that at least one woman is interviewed for every job posted. This is laying the groundwork for more diverse hiring over time.
Second, we have a sponsorship program exclusively for women workers to level the playing field in the organization. Each of the six Amerigo/MVC management team members, including me, has sponsored an MVC worker in 2023. We meet with them once or twice a month. Some are interested in technical sponsorship, while others are interested in leadership and management guidance. The idea is to understand the driving concerns of female workers at MVC and maintain an open-door policy.