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CLC CONSIDERS PROTECTING WATER RESOURCES TO BE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF ITS INDUSTRIAL PROCESS
The sustainable use of water is a key commitment in CLC and is implicit from start to finish of the copper production process. Cobre Las Cruces provides maximum guarantees and controls required for water management, and achieves sustainable use of the water resource. This is supported by the use of worldwide cutting-edge technology, backed by the best international experts in hydrology, and a comprehensive Monitoring Program implemented to achieve greater water management control.
CLC bases its water protection principles on:
- Protection of the Niebla-Posadas aquifer: use of a dewatering and reinjection system that prevents water entering the mine pit and coming into contact with sulfides, thereby conserving the resource.
- Process water: reutilization of urban wastewater from the San Jerónimo Sewage Treatment Plant, and of contact water collected from the base of the open pit.
- Recycling in the plant, whenever possible.
- Any water that cannot be recycled is treated and then discharged, complying with the permitted discharge limits that are much stricter than the ones required by law.
- Water Treatment Plants using Reverse Osmosis: whenever necessary, the contact water and water from the dewatering system is purified to drinking water standards.