Insight Meeting: “Challenges and opportunities of seawater in mining”
This meeting was held where a crucial issue for the future of Chile and the world was addressed, with presentations by Daniela Desormeaux, director of studies at Vantaz Group, and Carlos Foxley, president of ACADES.
A new insight meeting was held at Vantaz Group, this time on the “Opportunities and challenges of seawater in mining”. At the event, attendees participated in interesting presentations where desalination and water consumption and use projections for the coming years, both for mining and other purposes, were discussed. Once the presentations were finished, the attendees, representatives of the main mining companies in the country, were able to ask questions and talk with the speakers.
In her presentation, Daniela Desormeaux pointed out that although Chile has abundant copper and lithium, we need water for their exploitation. In this regard, the Director of Studies of Vantaz Group said that “today desalination plants in Chile produce 9,000 liters per second, however, projections tell us that 34,000 liters per second will be needed by the year 2030”.
In addition, he noted that the increase in desalination plants for mining development will have positive impacts on local economies. “While mining occupies only 4% of the country's water, it is a problem because our resources are in the driest desert in the world. It is not the country's main consumer, but it needs water in a place where there is none, and that is the main dilemma.”
For his part, Carlos Foxley pointed out that our country has proven desalination technology and that the main issue to be resolved today is how to streamline the processes so that new desalination plant projects can be executed in less time. Also taking into consideration that there is a need for inputs for the development of this type of plants worldwide.
In this sense, Foxley reinforced the importance of advancing in desalination and made an invitation to look to the future with optimism “we have very good news to give you with mining and it is that Chile, in spite of the effect of climate change, has everything, everything, to mitigate it and to move forward”.
In 2024 Vantaz Group will continue to promote meetings to share knowledge and perspectives among the main players in the mining industry. We invite you to stay in touch.