“This is an act of transparency that functions as a means of verification for authorities, community and other stakeholders,” the company states.
SQM Online is the new environmental management monitoring platform for SQM’s extraction of industrial water, brine and other information in the Salar de Atacama.
With this, SQM seeks to generate changes in the creation of shared social value, care and respect for people, the environment and communities.
Since August 31, anyone accessing the site can see, for example, the daily data on the amount of brine extracted in accordance with the limits approved by the environmental entity.
Javier Silva, SQM’s Corfo Contract Manager, told the Reporte Minero website: “The periodicity of taking each of these records is governed by the provisions of the Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA) in force and the resolutions issued by the Superintendency of the Environment regarding online monitoring systems”.
El ejecutivo agregó: “Este sistema de monitoreo ambiental en línea que, significó para la compañía una inversión de US$1.000.000, tiene por objetivos aumentar la información en los sistemas ambientalmente sensibles y sus alrededores de manera de mejorar el conocimiento de su dinámica hidrogeológica e hidrológica, y mantener el control en caso de observar desviaciones y tomar acciones preventivas y concretas que aseguren mantener el sistema según lo acordado en los compromisos ambientales”
However, aware of the questions that could be raised about the data and its reliability, Javier Silva assures that audits will be carried out, according to Diario Financiero.
What will you find on the SQM online page?
Daily online information on the amount of brine extracted in accordance with the limits approved by the environmental entity will be published through the web page https://www.sqmsenlinea.com/. Information represented in daily and accumulated indicators of the controls of the established operational rule.
The site also shows indicators on water extraction from each well with environmental authorization in the form of average daily flow, explaining the current limit for each one.
The information is based on the volume extracted from each well, which is recorded every minute.
Additionally, SQM incorporated information on historical levels and, since March 2020, continuous levels according to the latest online monitoring resolution of the Dirección General de Aguas (DGA).
The platform has state-of-the-art technology to report daily water extraction and groundwater levels for each of the five wells with rights approved by the environmental authority.
Regarding environmental control and monitoring, the company assured that it operates on the basis of a robust environmental management system, whose objective is to verify that environmental variables are evolving as planned and to take care of sensitive systems.
To this end, they indicate that biotic variables and at least 225 hydrogeological monitoring points are monitored, and that they continuously provide information on: phreatic levels, surface levels and flows, lagoon area, physicochemical parameters, among others.
Symmetry of information
Si bien ya tendremos tiempos para saber qué tan bien funciona la plataforma de SQM, sin duda, desde Gisma y SIGEA creemos que esta es la dirección en la que deben avanzar las compañías y organizaciones asegurando cumplimiento regulatorio en un contexto de transparencia hacia todos los actores involucrados e implementando principios de la simetría de la información, todos observamos y disponemos de la misma información, lo cual permite a los especialistas dedicarse al análisis y toma de decisiones.
Fuente: Diario Financiero https://www.df.cl/noticias/empresas/mineria/sqm-abre-a-todo-publico-datos-del-sistema-de-monitoreo-en-linea-del-salar-de-atacama/2020-08-31/195304.html?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Titulares_01092020&utm_content=Link_Nota&utm_mc=ffOvIwGCyJX3LPGTaxRS4g
ReporteMinero.cl https://www.reporteminero.cl/noticia/noticias/2020/09/sqm-lanza-plataforma-online-que-informa-su-monitoreo-ambiental
