Can you please talk about the growth and evolution of EySA and your main focus in the industry?

We have worked in the mining industry for over 20 years. Though we have worked in Uruguay, Panama, the Dominican Republic etc., we are a local company primarily focused on Argentina. Most multinationals have their own contracted engineering agencies with an environmental branch, but environmental management is not their particular specialty. EySA is one of the principal actors in Argentina’s mining industry with a specialization in mitigating eco-related issues and ensuring peaceful community relations.

Have you felt the investment environment change given President Macri’s new macroeconomic policies?

The halt of mining activity over the past years was not a result of Argentinian conditions but the global market situation. The gold price was at a rate that was below operational feasibility, and many juniors across the world disappeared. However, we are now starting to see an uptake in mining activity across continents.

The principal barrier to sustainable mining investment at present in Argentina is the underdeveloped aspect of community integration. There are international guidelines that mining companies should follow, but the navigation of these important relationships is not always effectively integrated into business practice on the ground. No matter what the situation is in terms of production, companies should never stop their community integration plans. These plans should be continually reviewed and updated, which some companies, such as Barrick, are now realizing.

This alludes to another aspect of crisis management in modern day’s affluently technological environment, which is ensuring that all communication guidelines are followed. Every employee has a camera in their pocket that can catalyze a Public Relations disaster. Mining as an industry is already negatively perceived by certain members of the public in Argentina, so alarmist news is something that needs to be avoided at all costs. But this has to be considered as an opportunity to improve the communication and diffusion of mining activities to the general public with the final objective to show that mining is another productive industry like any other. Also, to emphasize that Argentina presents a great potential to develop mining projects in a successful way. Hence why proactivity and effective management are critical. Communication is when one person understands the message that the other is sending, which is not happening between the private sector and those that live near their projects. You have to educate the public about the processes you are undergoing, the product that is being created, and how it will effect them so they know what to expect.

Can you speak about a case study that exemplifies EySA’s capabilities via your clients, such as Orocobre?

With Orocobre we developed a program that was aligned with their international standards but also specifically was adapted to the environmental policy of Argentina. Our staff is highly educated, and we have technical specialists that can assist in properly integrating multinationals to our nation’s particularities.

About a year and a half ago, we worked on a large project to restore all of the old uranium mines that have been exploited over the past 30 years in this country. The objective of this work was to conduct an environmental categorization in many different provinces in Argentina. The owner of these mines is the National Nuclear Commission, and considering they are all very old projects, we were hired to formulate a baseline study for these concessions and how to best move forward with their care.

Right now we are working on a large Lithium project in Puna, which is proving to be a very strong venture. Gold and silver is seeing movement as well, especially in regards to the small- and medium-sized projects. In the coming years, we will begin to see the closure of the first mines that went online about 15 years ago, so it will be interesting to see how the sector evolves. All of these projects have their closure plans that should be actualized, in theory, so companies down the value chain, such as ours, should see an uptake in business.

Looking forward, what do you hope to see change concerning the way Argentina’s mining sector operates?

The environmental institute of engineering is a new faculty that is working to develop a seminar about mining and the environment, but it was originally cancelled due to the Barrick problem. We hope that these efforts see fruition soon, and that they are continually taken seriously.

There are also many criticisms about how the regulations are controlled, considering the local provincial authority has the final say. The large multinationals that enter our country have very knowledgeable teams that know exactly how to navigate their way around local leaders that may have a lot less experience.