What are the objectives of the 12th Congress of Prospectors and Explorers (proEXPLO 2021)?

Our first goal is to hold for the first time a fully online congress under the particular circumstances we have now. Being fully virtual allows us to have a new way of communicating between us and it is also a new way of having more channels.

The other objective of this congress is to contribute to strengthen the links between academia, industry and investors. Similarly, we will seek to strengthen the development of mining exploration in an environmentally clean context and focused on meeting requirements.

How goes the public acceptance of proEXPLO 2021 courses?

The first thing we did was to choose the subjects of the courses, so the members of the Organizing Committee did some surveys in our circle; and as each member of the committee has his or her specialty, we know which subjects can be interesting and necessary.

On the other hand, we know that proEXPLO courses have been successful among the public; this is why 8 subjects have been designed with local and foreign experts (United States, Australia, Sweden).

In the case of course registrations, there is a slight difference with respect to congress registrations or the delivery of technical papers. Currently we do not have much news; which is normal because in November and December mining companies and stakeholders are very busy with closing annual budget matters. So, what we are going to see is an increase in registrations at the beginning of February, which is what happens in every edition of proEXPLO.

What do you think will be the contribution of proEXPLO 2021 to Peruvian mining?

ProEXPLO is above all a space for the different mining stakeholders to share; so we will have several conferences with presentations of new geological and geophysical concepts applied to exploration; and we will look at other subjects related to improving productivity involving geometallurgy, machine learning and job opportunities.

It is also a space where companies can share their experiences of relations with community and environment; therefore, it is proEXPLO's contribution to create this space for discussion so that each actor can share their experience and enrich the debate and generate new ideas for the common good.

What takeaway do you want participants to take home at the end of proEXPLO 2021?

This congress will be very unique because of the COVID-19 pandemic; but in spite of this pandemic we want to convey the message that progress is still being made in academia, industry, society and environment. Things do not stop completely and we want to bring as much normality as possible to the events and move forward with proEXPLO. In the future, this virtual modality could continue in part, allowing specialists to participate, who in previous years would not have been able to be present. So it is an opportunity that we should also take advantage of.

Why is mining geology important?

Geology has always been important to the mining industry and has become increasingly essential over the years for two main reasons. The first is because it is increasingly difficult to find new mineral deposits; and deposits that exist on the surface have already been discovered and now the challenge is to find deeper deposits that are not so easy to detect. So a geological analysis is very important for that and absolutely essential.

The second reason is that, because of this difficulty in finding deposits, companies are looking to make the most of deposits already known; optimizing production, and favoring brownfield exploration to increase the life of operations; which makes it possible to compensate in part for the difficulty of finding new deposits; and at this stage geology is also essential.

What are the aspects you think Peruvian mining geologists should improve in order to become more competitive?

One of the great qualities of the Peruvian mining geologist is that he is a highly motivated, hard-working person, used to the difficult geographical conditions of Peru, such as the relief, the altitude of working at over 4,000 meters for weeks in an adverse climate, and being away from family for a long time. He/she also has good knowledge of mineralogy and topography.

For me, what needs to be improved is the proficiency in foreign languages, particularly English. Speaking English is a sine qua non for a Peruvian geologist who wants to work inside or outside Peru and it is also a sine qua non to keep his/her knowledge up to date through readings that are essentially in English and that are focused on geology and other subjects related to the mining world. It is also useful if you want to attend congresses such as proEXPLO or courses, and lately there is a lot of learning material on the Internet, especially on YouTube, but most of them are in English.