Mineral Exploration is the official publication of the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/428696
The setting of Pan American Silver Corp.'s Navidad project. 30 W I N T E R 2 0 1 4 Photograph : Pan Americ an Silver Corp . the board. "It then becomes this strategic driver of what deci- sions the board makes and also how they position their assets if they then try to sell their project to a senior," says Stephenson. A robust collection of project and regional environmental data, along with a solid relationship with local communities, was part of the appeal for Pan American Silver Corp. when it purchased the Navidad silver-lead-copper deposit in Patagonia, Argentina, in 2010. "The geologists who discovered the project immediately started baseline environmental studies, before they even drilled the first hole," says Matthew Andrews, vice-president of envi- ronment and sustainability for Pan American Silver Corp. Regional environmental baseline, water quality and arche- ological studies have been carried out at the Navidad deposit since its discovery 12 years ago. Andrews pays credit to the early work of the geologists at the junior company that discovered the deposit, who made the invest- ment to collect the data because they expected good results from the drilling and wanted to smooth the progress of the project. Beyond simply providing data for impact assessment of the mining project, the baseline monitoring process enabled stron- ger partnerships to develop with key stakeholders. "When the environmental scientists came for field trips, we would ask them to do a presentation to the local community about the work they were doing and present some of the results to keep the peo- ple updated on the progress of the studies," Andrews explains. This willingness to share environmental baseline data with the community demonstrates that a company is going above and beyond regulatory requirements, and is a key factor for gaining social acceptance to operate on an exploration project. "It's not just about manufacturing a report, it is about build- ing trust," says Lana Eagle, chair of the AME BC Aboriginal Relations Committee.