In a dollar-hungry economy, mining is the second most productive sector after agribusiness. However, despite the achievement exports of US$ 3,800 millionthere is concern in companies due to the economic situation that impacts on the projects.

In this sense, avoid restrictions on some inputs and capital goods so that the level of activity does not decrease is one of the current challenges.

Another theme that the sector is watching with caution is related to projects for gold and silver, which account for 80% of exports. “There is an economic equation affecting costs with dollar inflation internationally that can endanger production capacity in 2023,” said Argentine Chamber of Mining Entrepreneurs (CAEM) head Franco Mignacco.

It was during an “International Seminar: Argentina Gold, Silver and Copper 2022”, organized by Panorama Minero, to which the main companies in the sector and also officials were invited.

“We do not want the projects to be withdrawn in order to continue to inject dollars”, Mignacco summarized on Thursday in the initial panel, where the secretary of Industry, José Ignacio De Mendiguren; the Secretary of Mines, Fernanda Ávila; Daniel Funes de Rioja, president of the UIA and Miguel Soler, president of the Federal Council of Mines.

Among the other “concerns” of the mining companies, according to Mignacco is the need to “comply with the mining investment law“(24,196) because it gives us predictability.” And the possible sanction of the Wetlands Actwhich has a very particular impact on regional economies, said the manager at the seminar which ends this Friday.

For the rest, the prospects of the sector are promising, according to the numbers shared by the head of Caem: “We have a potential for 2030 of exports of 12 billion dollars.

Upcoming projects: copper and lithium

Basically, the major activity at the moment is concentrated in the projects copper (of which there is a reserve of 60 million tons in Argentina) like Jose María, which is about to start its construction after an investment of 4,000 million dollars. Also those of TacaTaca, Los Azules, Pachon and Mara, among others.

To those are added two lithium projects in operation and six under construction, the hot mineral for the demand of electric cars and electronics industry. And the most important projects of gold and silverin exploration and expansion such as Veladero, in San Juan and Cerro Negro, in Santa Cruz.

A fact that encouraged the participants came from the words of the moderator of the panel, Ernesto Cussianovich, director of Poliarquía, when he said that today 32% of people associate the word “Mining” with “work”. And not with “pollution”. Something that didn’t happen five years ago, he stressed.

Another of the panels was conducted by women: the minister of production of Santa Cruz Silvina Córdoba, the director of corporate relations of Newmont María Eugenia Sampalione and Isela Costantini, of the board of directors of Barrick Gold, agreed on the synergy that must exist between businesses, communities and the state, to create confidence in the development of the business.

As regards the role of women in mining, a report was presented which highlighted a growth in female participation in the activity from 9% to 10% in the last two years. “Santa Cruz has gone from 600 to 800 positions. The province has the highest percentage of female employment recorded, there is still a lot to do, but we are growing,” said the minister.

The sector in which the inclusion of women has grown the most has been in metal mining and secondly in the provision of services. To achieve this, she stressed: “There was a synergy between companies and trade unions for the incorporation of women in all layers of the mining activity.”

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