Miners are also feeling the effects.
the bronzesAnglo American’s flagship field in central Chile, saw production drop 17% year-on-year in the first quarter, partly due to lower water availability, the firm said in April.
Antofagasta said the drought caused a 24% drop in first-quarter production at its mine. The Hairs.
Stress over water use has been building for years for mining companies in Chile, who need it to pump minerals like lithium, smelt copper and at their concentrator plants, which process raw ore.
Traditionally, they have depended on inland waters: terrestrial water from lakes, rivers, and reservoirs.
“Our main challenge is to look for sources other than continental water and that is why we are looking for other projects, other alternatives,” Máximo Pacheco, chairman of the state giant’s board, told Reuters. Codelco.
The executive said that Codelco planned to recycle more water and reduce water use through efficiency savings, but provided few details on specific measures.
Mining companies are working to improve mine tailings to increase recirculation, reduce water loss from pipes, and reuse greywater.
In 2020, the copper mines recirculated 73% of the water and the rest of the new resources, of which 70% came from continental sources, equivalent to 12,090 liters per second (lt/sec), according to a study by the state Chilean Commission of Copper (Cochilco).
“Every drop counts”
In Los Pelambres, in the northern region of Coquimbo, the mine workers to reduce personal water use through screens, part of the program: “Every drop counts”.
The Antofagasta mine will also have a desalination plant that will come on stream in the second half of the year and aims for 90% of the mine’s water to come from the ocean or be recirculated by 2025.
Jorge Cantallopts, head of studies at Cochilco, told Reuters that mines high in the Andes in central Chile faced the greatest challenge, as the drought is likely to persist and there are greater logistical problems in building desalination plants in the populous region.
While pointing to Los Bronces as the most notable example, he said that other mines such as Andean Y The lieutenant of Codelco could soon face setbacks.
Mining Undersecretary Willy Kracht told Reuters that the government expected companies to share desalination infrastructure and plans to set up a table to boost coordination.
Anglo American said in response to queries from Reuters that Los Bronces was seeking to make production more efficient and find water sources that “do not compete with human consumption.”
The company has already increased water efficiency and reduced freshwater extraction, although it warned that its copper production projections of 660,000 to 750,000 tons this year could be affected by water availability and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. .
water policy
Water use is also becoming increasingly political, with the leftist president Gabriel Boric interested in tightening environmental regulations in Chile.
Regulators have already sought to sue or fine some mining companies for excessive water use, especially in the Atacama Desert region.an important source of lithium that is in high demand to make electric vehicle batteries.
Cochilco estimates that freshwater use will drop 45% by 2032 due to desalination, according to a report last month, but the process is expensive, uses a lot of electricity and is not always feasible in high-altitude Andean regions inland. .
bhpone of the pioneers, now meets the demand for water in its huge mine hidden with the technology and has another desalination plant at its Spence mine, but still relies on inland water for the smaller deposit in Colorado Hill.
Antofagasta has said that the continuity of its mine Zaldivar it depends on the extension of inland water rights since its size would not justify the cost of a desalination plant.
Kracht said protecting water resources and the environment and stimulating economic growth in mining-dependent Chile was a difficult balancing act.
“We have to take charge of this drought and at the same time, with climate change and the policies that are being promoted at a global level, they ask us to develop more mining. So there is a kind of contradiction that we have to learn” to resolve, he said.
Source: Ambito
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
