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ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & SAFETY |
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Supporting expansion at Antamina mine, Peru
Involved in the Antamina mine for most of its ten-year history, Golder recently conducted a year-long Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regarding a planned expansion of the mine. The expansion involved increasing the daily mining throughput by making changes to the metallurgical plant grinding circuit, as well as accessing the Usu Pallares ore body. Staff from our offices in Peru, Chile, the USA and Canada worked closely with Antamina’s staff to conduct physical, biological and social investigations to gather baseline information to assess potential impacts of the project expansion. One of the issues the team investigated was air quality. The Ancash Region of Peru, where the mine is located, receives almost all of its rain between October and March. For the rest of the year the air is dry, so mining activity has the potential to raise dust. Also, water quality issues were addressed using geochemistry data generated since the initiation of the mining activities. These data were used to predict long-term (i.e. postclosure) water quality for the pit lake that would be generated once mining ceases. As part of our work, Golder participated in workshops and other meetings to inform community members and other stakeholders about the results of the baseline studies on environmental and social factors and of its impact assessments. The EIA report was submitted to Peru’s Ministry of Energy and Mines and approved in April 2008. Over more than ten years, our Antamina project team’s scope has included a 130-m-high (427 foot), concrete faced, compacted rockfill starter dam, which is being progressively raised to ultimately form a 240-m-high (787 foot) rockfill dam with upstream filters and concrete curbs; three 3.5-m (11.5 foot) horseshoe section drill and blast tunnels; three concrete tunnel plugs and two sidehill decant structures. Associated work has also included the design of tailings distribution systems, tailings management planning, ongoing geochemical studies, surface water management, and the development of operation, maintenance and surveillance plans and emergency response plans. The work has been performed by a committed team from several Golder offices across North and South America. Environmental health and safety considerations have been significant drivers behind Golder’s involvement in Antamina ever since the company was retained in 1998 to perform designand construction-related engineering services for the 570 Mt (628 ton) tailings facility. Working in English and Spanish, our team and Antamina’s staff have developed health and safety plans and procedures to address the varied risks at the site. Ongoing training, job hazard assessments and regular inspections are also components of the health and safety management system. Our team’s careful efforts were recently recognized in a health and safety audit conducted by Antamina. We were rated at “Level 1 – Very Good.” Our work as one of Antamina’s strategic partners helps manage the environmental, social and economic effects of this large mining project.
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As one of the largest copper-zinc mines in the world,
the Antamina mine, high in the Andes Mountains,
is an important source of employment, government
revenue and export earnings for Peru. Yet the social,
economic and environmental effects of the mine
operations, which require large-scale mining to
access the ore body, must be carefully managed.