Water Management

Given the importance of water in protecting the environment and in the quality of life of the communities of the Andean Plateau, Collahuasi is committed to sustainable extraction of this resource and its increasing reuse in the company’s production processes. For several years, the company has been working to develop and implement best water-efficiency practices and technologies in all the processes that use this resource.

Collahuasi holds water rights with the corresponding environment permits for a total of 1,404.5 litres/sec in the Coposa and Michincha basins.

In 2009, it withdrew a total of 33,039,000 m3, mostly for use in the sulphides concentrator plant.

The basin of the Coposa Salt Flat is the main source of the water used by Collahuasi. Located in the Tarapacá Region’s Andean Plateau, it is an endorheic (closed) basin surrounded by mountain chains and volcanoes that reach altitudes of over 5,000 metres.  

The rapid recovery of natural water flow in the Jachucoposa Spring, where the flow has doubled in just two years, is an example of the successful implementation of Collahuasi’s good water practices as well as an example of how the company takes responsibility for its impacts and seeks to mitigate them.

In 2009, the company was also able to report progress in water reuse. Reused water at the concentrator plant reached 76.12%, equivalent to 98,517,000 m3, representing an increase of 2% on 2008.

Today, the company is, in fact, able to supply 76% of its total consumption with water that is reused within its recycling systems.