• The collaboration agreement will strengthen the goals set by the 2050 National Mining Policy and the National Women and Mining Roundtable.

As part of the Mining Month´s program, the Ministry of Mining and the CCM-Eleva Partnership signed an unprecedented collaboration agreement whereby a number of monitoring indicators will be made available to strengthen the goals set by the 2050 National Mining Policy (PNM) and the National Women and Mining Roundtable.

The CCM-Eleva Partnership —founded by the Consejo Minero (Chilean Mining Council) and Fundación Chile— has been conducting the Workforce Study of Large-scale Mining in Chile since 2011. In addition, since March 2022 they have included two biannual monitoring reports (available at www.ccm.cl/monitoreos) showing the variations in local employment and women’s participation in the industry.

Along these lines, the Ministry of Mining, represented by Undersecretary Suina Chahuán, who signed the agreement, valued the trajectory of CCM-Eleva, an initiative that will collaborate and be in charge of following up on and monitoring 8 of the 78 goals of the 2050 National Mining Policy.

These goals are specifically geared to increasing the average investment in training per worker (M11); improving collaboration between universities and the industry (M17); creating quality jobs (M19); promoting a tripartite dialog between the State, mining companies and unions (M26); and promoting the development of shared value projects with neighboring communities, with a focus on vendor networks, employment and local entrepreneurship (M28).

In the area of diversity and inclusion, the initiative envisages monitoring the goals related to achieving 20% of women’s participation in the industry by 2030 and 40% by 2050 and start measuring their involvement in medium- and small-scale mining (M20); achieving 25% of women’s participation in management positions by 2030 and 40% by 2050 and start measuring their involvement in medium- and small-scale mining (M21); and monitoring whether companies have in place policies regarding diversity and inclusion as well as labor, family and personal conciliation (M22).

Support for the Women and Mining Roundtable

The collaboration also considers CCM-Eleva’s supporting the National Women and Mining Roundtable within its sphere of activities, i.e. human capital in large-scale mining, as well as continuing to actively participate in the Education and the Indicators and Measurement work commissions.

It will also facilitate monitoring three Roundtable indicators, namely women’s participation across the industry, women’s participation in management positions, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies.

In this context, monitoring carried out by the CCM-Eleva Partnership in March 2023 shows that women’s participation in mining companies has almost doubled in the last four years, i.e. from 8.9% to 17.4%. On the other hand, women’s participation in the industry as a whole, including mining companies and vendors, stands at 15.2% (vs. 14.3% in 2021).

The agreement also envisages collaboration in carrying out other studies or specific analyses on the topic of human capital as may be requested by the Undersecretary of Mining in connection with the National Strategy for Lithium and the National Strategy for Smelter and Refinery Capacity Building.

“We are very pleased to have entered into this public-private collaboration between the CCM-Eleva Partnership and the Ministry of Mining —represented by our Undersecretary. This will allow us to significantly monitor the 2050 National Mining Policy indicators and the progress of the National Women and Mining Roundtable —apart from additional studies that may help us consolidate the National Strategy for Lithium and move forward in connection with other relevant public policies of the sector. All the while with the goal in mind of increasing both women’s participation and inclusion in the mining sector,” said Suina Chahuán, Undersecretary of Mining.

Along the same lines, Verónica Fincheira, manager of the Mining Skills Council, who has participated for more than a decade in the Women and Mining Roundtable, added: “The signing of this document is very significant for advancing the great challenges facing us as a sector in terms of inclusion and diversity. We will contribute to the monitoring of key recruitment indicators, encouraging more women to participate in the sector. By formalizing this relationship, the country can potentially develop metrics and suggest ambitious gender equity goals. We are very pleased with this milestone, where we will be the 2050 PNM’s official indicator and we expect to contribute to the education and training of more young people and women miners.”

Support from the Chilean Mining Council and Fundación Chile

This agreement was signed within the framework of the Women and Mining Roundtable, with the participation of more than 60 representatives —men and women— from the mining industry and with the special participation of the general managers of the Chilean Mining Council, Carlos Urenda, and Fundación Chile, Hernán Araneda.

“Entering into this agreement with the Undersecretary of Mining is a sign of confidence and of how to advance the development of the most strategic points of the sector. Public-private partnerships are key to being able to develop talent, improve the country’s education and training conditions and, above all, encourage more women to join one of the economic sectors most conducive to the social development of the regions,” commented Carlos Urenda, general manager of the Chilean Mining Council.

On his part, Hernán Araneda, general manager of Fundación Chile, added: “We are proud to make our indicators available to the Undersecretary of Mining as well as to the mining ecosystem of our country. They have been in use for more than 10 years, using a methodology that has proven to be consistent over time and that has facilitated decision making and the development of strategies for both the public and private sectors.”

2023-2032   Workforce Study  

Finally, the agreement also makes reference to the fact that the Undersecretary of Mining has officially become a sponsor of the ninth version of the Large-scale Chilean Mining Workforce Study (which will address the decade 2023-2032). The study will be announced at a public-private event to be attended by mining companies, vendors, unions, training institutions and authorities, to be held on Tuesday, December 5 at 9:00 a.m. at the premises of Fundación Chile (Santiago).