Center for Mining Sustainability

A Partnership with Arequipa

Universidad Nacional de San Agustín (UNSA) in Arequipa, Peru, and Colorado School of Mines have developed a collaborative international research center to tackle one of the most important societal and environmental questions facing southern Peru today: how to manage natural resources in a way that supports local economies and minimizes negative environmental and community impacts.

In 2019 this partnership led to the founding of the Center for Mining Sustainability, a jointly-managed group of researchers from a broad array of departments at both universities. The vision for the Center is to provide research-driven solutions to issues in the mining sector to benefit the Arequipa region. Research projects are aimed at protecting water resources, improving mine safety, reducing risk from geologic hazards, and improving mining processes.

The Challenges Ahead

Mining in the Arequipa region takes place mostly at artisanal and small scale, and faces many complex social, economical and environmental challenges. Among these:

  • Unique pressures and economic limitations inherent with Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining
  • Degradation of water resources due to mine runoff, changing sediment loads, and contamination by chemicals
  • Exposure of mining personnel and nearby residents to dangerous chemicals from mineral extraction
  • Market-force issues that resist change to safer chemical extraction methods
  • Hazardous mining conditions, due to inadequate ventilation and mine stability problems
  • Safe storage and long-term disposal and management of mine tailings
  • Landslide, debris flow, and erosion hazards in mining areas or caused by mining
  • Predictive methods and ore characterization to ensure future resources and continued thriving communities

These technical, social, and environmental challenges are intricately connected and require innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches for effective change. To be truly effective, solutions must anticipate future needs and drivers, reduce unfavorable consequences, and integrate with the unique social systems that define the region. The Center for Mining Sustainability will apply data-driven, interdisciplinary science, technology, and innovation to help chart a new course toward a sustainable future.

Vision and Mission

Vision: To provide research-driven solutions for mining issues to benefit the Arequipa Region and to be applied at all scales of mining worldwide. We will become an international benchmark for research in sustainable mining.

Mission: To develop a long-term collaboration that will build research capacity, train scientists, and solve key mining, environmental, and social problems.

History

One of the key goals of Dr. Rohel Sanchez, Rector of UNSA, and Dr. Horacio Barreda, the Vice-Rector for Research at UNSA, was to transform UNSA by elevating its technical and human capacity to build the strategic, long-term collaborations needed to address key environmental, mineral extraction, and social challenges that will support responsible mining activities long into the future. While individual research projects focus on the Arequipa region of Peru, the work will benefit Peru as a whole, as well as areas worldwide with mining activity, and especially Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining.

The connections between UNSA and Mines were established in late 2018 between Tomas Diaz de la Rubia, Chief Scientist and Executive Director of the Discovery Park at Purdue University, Timothy Filley, Director of the Arequipa Nexus Institute at Purdue (conducting similar research but with an agriculture and water supply focus), John Poate and Stefanie Tompkins, the former and current (respectively) Vice-Presidents for Research and Technology Transfer at Mines, and UNSA Rector Rohel Sanchez. The first Mines delegation to Arequipa included faculty from across Mines, representing the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Geology and Geological Engineering, Geophysics, and Mining Engineering. By February of 2019 the research projects had been developed and by March of 2019 the official launching of the Center for Sustainable Mining was signed. The program of research projects, technical workshops, visiting scholar programs, and joint laboratories is expected to engage dozens of UNSA and Mines faculty and staff, postdoctoral researchers, and UNSA graduate and undergraduate students.

The Mines team is led by Paul Santi, professor in the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering.  He serves as Co-Director of the Center’s scientific programs, partnering with the leader of the UNSA team, Henry Gustavo Cornejo Polanco, professor and Dean of the School of Process Engineering at UNSA.