FUTURE SUSTAINABLE MINING

IN ANDEAN WATERSHEDS:
CHALLENGES, RISK, CONSIDERATIONS

C.V.
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Dold (Bernhard.Dold@ltu.se) es Chair Professor = Jefe del
área en Geoquimica Aplicada, en la Universidad Tecnológica de Luleå,
Suecia y es Presidente de SUMIRCO.EIRL (Sustainable Mining Research &
Consultancy.EIRL), San Pedro de la Paz, Chile. Recibió su titulo de Geólogo
(Dipl. Geol.) de la Universität Bremen, Alemania (1995). Hizo sus estudios
de Doctorado en la Universidad de Ginebra, Suiza (1999).
Se especializa en procesos biogeoquímicos y hidrogeológicos que controlan
los ciclos de elementos en aguas subterráneas y superficiales, suelos,
desechos industriales, operaciones de biolixiviación y formación de
yacimientos.

Dr. Bernhard La caracterización, control, prevención, y remediación de polución

ambiental, con especial énfasis en la formación de aguas acidas de roca en

DOLD desechos mineros, cierre de minas y yacimientos supérgenos y su aplicación

para una mejor sostenibilidad de las operaciones mineras es el principal
foco de sus investigaciones.
Universidad Tecnológica de Lulea,
Suecia
 Future sustainable mining in Andean watershed: challenges, risks,
considerations
Bernhard Dold1
1
Division of Geosciences and
Department of Civil, Environmental and
Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden
Exploration of ore deposits in the Andes
pushes the limits of economic interesting
mining operations more and more towards
remote areas (high Andes, rain forests,
protected areas), as well as increases the
complexity of the systems due to new
target elements associated to the needs of
the transition from a brown to a green
economy in the energy and mobility
sectors (REE, PGE, Ge, Ga, Si, V, and
Battery elements like Co, Ni, Li, Mn).
Additionally, new discoveries of classical
ore deposits show changes in element
compositions as for example the high
potential of arsenical Cu sulphide deposits
in Peru. This opens the doors for new
environmental and social risks, and
requires innovative strategies to overcome
and prevent these risks, and ensure a
sustainable development of the society
based on the responsible use of its natural
resources in a context of a circular
economy. This is not only required by the
affected local communities, but more and
more also from the market and its end-
users.
The Andes, due to its geological evolution
as an active continental margin are one of
the heavily mineralized areas in the world,
giving the base for the richness in metal
resources in countries like for example
Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia.
However, this richness comes also with
higher natural background levels of
Environmental engineering
Natural resources engineering
environmentally hazardous elements and
high potential of environmental pollution, if
extraction is not properly managed. On the
other hand, the Andes are the vertebra for
the hydrogeological irrigation system of
the whole South American continent,
reaching down to the Amazonas River in
the East and many steep river systems
flow to the Pacific coast in the West. Thus,
the head of the watersheds in the Andes
are also the most prone to be exhumation
areas of ore deposits, due to high erosion
rates, giving an important double role to
the Andes. The high Andes also host very
sensible ecosystem due to multiple stress
factors, like high altitude, low
temperatures, and high radiation among
others. Therefore, the local communities,
often from indigenous origin and
dependent on agriculture, are especially
sensible for any environmental and
socioeconomic changes and impacts. This
shows the need to combine scientific
knowledge of the geology, mineralogy and
geochemistry of the mineralized areas with
the hydrogeological situation in a
watershed and the ecology of receiving
environment, in order to be able to predict
and protect from potential environmental
changes and risks.
This collides with the situation that usually
the ore deposits are not characterized in a
proper way to predict the whole potential
impact and also there is generally a very
limited knowledge of the hydrogeological
and hydrogeochemical situation in the
Andean watersheds. Thus, important
efforts have to be undertaken from both
sides, the state agencies and industry in
order to characterize the potential pollution
sources as well as the receiving
environment.
A watershed of the Andes can extend
vertical and horizontal through different
vegetation and climatic zones with
different ecosystems, which might have
different roles in the recharge of the
watersheds aquifers. Therefore, it is from
outermost importance to obtain scientific
knowledge of the geological, climatic and
ecological interaction in a watershed, in
order to be able to define the most
sensitive and vulnerable areas, which
have to be protected.
Recent advancements in new analytical
techniques in the last decades give
nowadays the possibility to characterize
the mineralogy and geochemistry on a
quantitative mean precisely and in an
automated way, enabling to predict the
behaviour of these minerals in the
environment under different geochemical
conditions. New developments in drilling
techniques (Sonic drilling) makes it now
easier to implement piezometers for
hydrogeological studies. However, this is
still costly and therefore not widely used
for a proper characterization of the
sources and receiving environments. This
investment has to be done by the society
and industry to ensure a proper watershed
management were both, the local society
living there, as well the whole country
have to benefit from the georesources and
their sustainable extraction.
But as special task has to fulfil the mining
industry itself in order to be able to operate
also in the future and ensure the
sustainable development of the countries.
As long as mining industry will produce the
amounts of waste associated today, and
the geotechnical risk associated like
tailings dam failures (E.g. Brumadhino
2019, Brasil) and geochemical instability
resulting in acid mine drainage (AMD)
persist, industry will fail to obtain the social
license to operate. A drastic innovation in
operational mentality has to be executed.
At the end, all minerals extracted from a
mine are georesources with an economic
value. Properly characterized and
separated, they can be transformed into
products resulting the basis of new circular
industries. The goal must be, that only a
very minor volume of the extracted
material of a mine needs final deposition
(like for example arsenic), but the majority
has to be seen as georesources for
building material like cement or for
technical applications like solar cells or
semi-conductors. Only if this transition can
be achieved, there is a change to get back
the acceptance of the society for the
mining activity to operate.
 NOTAS
FUTURE SUSTAINABLE
MINING IN ANDEAN
WATERSHEDS:
CHALLENGES, RISK,
CONSIDERATIONS

Dr. Bernhard
DOLD
Universidad Tecnológica de Lulea,
Suecia