📋 Tender Overview
Senator Yasna Provoste, together with her peers Daniel Nunez, Matias Walker and Sergio Gahona, listened to authorities from the area and small mining producers who have seen their operations paralyzed.
A series of meetings to intercede for the reactivation of small mining were agreed upon by the members of the Mining and Energy Commission, who met in the city of Illapel in the presence of pirquineros unions from the Coquimbo region and local authorities. The instance moved to said territory in order to learn about the measures that the Executive has taken to help mining producers who have seen their work affected as a result of the frontal system that affected the Norte Chico in mid-July. On the occasion, the mayor of Illapel, Denis Cortes, recalled the work they have been doing in The mining table in which mining unions from Santa Cruz, Salamaca, Canela and Combarbala participate. We have a loss of machinery and zero possibility of returning to production in the medium term. The most complex area was Alcaparrosa and Matancilla. Our universe is made up of 680 deposits, of which 160 are active, 83 are irregular and 437 are abandoned. There are flooded pits with serious access problems. There is no clarity of the amounts committed. There are initiatives that cannot reach miners who are outside the norm. The PAMMA and FDR do not guarantee Not all producers are banked, he said. Meanwhile, the executive vice president of Enami, Juan Carlos Saez acknowledged that the big problems were in the operation of the southern Delta production complex in Ovalle and the gold and silver processing plant in Vallenar, fortunately we returned to work. It is important for us to receive mineral again. Regarding the emergency plan, from Cabildo to Ovalle there are 29 approved projects, which correspond to 774 thousand dollars, and there are emergency advances. Those that are being processed reach 365 thousand dollars and those approved are one million two hundred thousand dollars. The Undersecretary of Mining, Alvaro Gonzalez commented on the Mining in progress plan, detailing that it focuses on access to the sites, worker safety and operational reactivation. Thus he mentioned that there is a registry of Mineras por Chile that supported the clearance with machinery, with the help of Enami we have generated a georeferenced crossing of roads and damaged sites, now with this data we want to start requesting help that is currently being provided by Enami and Banco Estado. There is also the assistance of Sernageomin for technical inspection of the sites, remote sensing and geospatial analysis of risk management. The authority took stock of the emergency in the Coquimbo region, ensuring that there are 257 sites without problems, 425 affected, of them 88 are in Andacollo, 65 in Combarbala, 60 in Ovalle, 39 in Illapel, 31 in Monte Patria and 30 in La Higuera. We have detected 88 site floods, 28 affected by landslides, 9 with total closure due to access problems and 7 with damage to their camps. The affected routes are 116 (41 slight damage, 45 moderate, 28 serious and 2 very serious). In the case of the Atacama region, to date, 172 sites have been detected without damage and 183 with damage (Tierra Amarilla 32, Vallenar 54, Freirina 59, Huasco 4, Alto del Carmen 7 and Copiapo 27). Of these, 6 had complete damage, 2 landslides, 1 with major damage, 1 blockage due to snow and 1 due to flooding. Those affected were 50 (1 with slight damage, 9 with moderate damage, 38 serious and 2 very serious), he specified. REGULARIZATION OF PIQUES After this intervention, representatives of the pirquineros unions of Illapel, Salamanca, Canela, Combarbala, Rio Hurtado and Punitaqui, the Calena Mining Corporation and the union of Independent Workers of Pirquineros spoke. These raised the difficulties they have in regularizing their tasks, in order to receive the necessary financial support in this emergency; and problems of access to information. Senator Yasna Provoste, president of the Commission, commented on the importance of simplifying the procedures to regulate deposits relying on Sernageomin resources, and beyond the contingency, studying what will happen with the generational change. We have confirmed here the commitment of the Executive to work with small-scale mining. I am happy and it is good news that there is a willingness to support the regularization of the tasks given the particularities of the artisans, he concluded. Senator Daniel Nunez asked to participate in a meeting with the Tres Valles mining company, in order to make them see that they must respect the lease agreement they had with small miners. Faced with this, the Commission agreed to said meeting. What the unions are asking is to see what possibility they have of having machine hours, through an agreement. That is very specific and is the first thing to regain access to the mines, he said. Then Senator Matias WalkerHe asserted that it is very important to inject reconstruction funds into the small mining industry that was affected, this is a current budget. Regarding connectivity, we must recognize that the digital divide is permanent, it is not just due to the emergency and constant help is needed in this sense. In turn, Senator Sergio Gahona pointed to the regularization of small tasks and agreements with the FNDR. Artisanal miners do not meet the standards requested in these funds, so a special mechanism must be created for them. These matters are regulatory changes, so I dont know why it takes so long, he said. However, the Commission also agreed to advise the Comptrollers Office to unblock the impediment that the Union of Independent Workers of Pirquineros of Nueva Esperanza de Canela, who were victims of a scam, had in applying for funds. ON THE FIELD Subsequently, the senator and the senators traveled to the Santa Javiera mine located in Illapel in the Los Cristales sector, which suffered serious damage after the storms. Its owner, Luis Rojas, showed
