There is no doubt that the most important economic activity in our country is mining. In Chile, consequently, the recent years have been marked by an enormous interest in environmental care, seeking, among other aspects, to convert the negative externalities previously produced by mining into alternatives that allow its operational continuity in a sustainable way.

To do this, a key task is to work on regulations for the correct closure of the mining sites. In this sense, Pablo Gutiérrez, Institutional Relationship Manager at Hidronor Chile, points out that “effective regulations should be considered the basis for environmental sanitation actions and not as a roof imposed with the regulatory triangle compliance on mining matters. This should be considered as a base to establish a deck on which to build the mining of the future ”.  

The following characteristics and steps to proceed with the closure of a mining site are associated with the particular conditions that each one of them has, according to its size, location, among other aspects. This way, Law 20,551 aims to establish a general Roadmap with certain conditions and requirements, and now, in addition, the fulfillment of guarantees, which require that sufficient resources be established to take charge of the tasks related to the stabilization of each project through different financial instruments.

“Today, it is not enough to fully comply with the steps established in a given place and time to achieve a physical-chemical stabilization of the land and safely dispose of the remaining waste in the mine closure process, marking a milestone with the closure. On the contrary, the closure of the site should be "one more step" in the process that will last for years, as new technologies become available on the market, new solutions can be applied to the previously disposed waste, such as new treatments or new useful life with waste revaluation if possible”, adds Gutiérrez.

To help meet this milestone, Hidronor remains in constant development and innovation, always looking for the best alternatives available in the market to provide quality service and work towards polluted land remediation,which at the end has a positive impact on our environment’s sustainability. Therefore, after applying rigorous controls that ensure the decontamination of mining lands, the company works to optimize its conditions for subsequent use, granting a second useful life, caring for the environment and the people's health.