Gold Fields announces exploration into Argentina and Brazil

Company plans to send geologists this year. In addition, it ratifies the start of production in Salares Norte (Chile) in April and points to exploration in other areas of the southern country.

The executive vice president of Gold Fields Americas Region, Luis Rivera, revealed that last year the company began an in-depth analysis of the mining potential of the countries of the continent, in which it is not yet present, in order to begin exploration tasks.

In this sense, he revealed that they are pointing towards Brazil, in the Jacobina belt area, in Bahia. Along the same lines, Argentina appears.

During the Special Mining Thursday program, of the Institute of Mining Engineers of Peru (IIMP), Rivera indicated that the "desk work" concluded, so they will now move on to stage two, which means entering the land, which involves moving some geologists to both countries.

"We believe that Brazil has demonstrated in recent decades, despite the political ups and downs, the comings and goings of government trends, to be a stable country with very powerful federal legislation and also state legislation that has confirmed that it is possible to operate for decades without major setbacks," Rivera highlighted.

Also, added that the large mining companies that operate in Brazil have geological potential and have legal and institutional stability.

Regarding Argentina, Rivera highlighted the geological potential, but expressed concern about the regulatory fluctuations, the challenges posed by the repatriation of capital, sending dividends, entry or exit of foreign currency, and capital management. "There are many restrictions," he said.

However, the northern provinces of Argentina such as Salta, Jujuy and Catamarca and the central provinces such as San Juan, and some in the south such as Santa Cruz have proven to be pro-mining and are attracting large mining houses.

"In Argentina there is Río Tinto, there is Glencore, there is even Newmont and other international mining companies," he added.

Chile on the agenda

Most of the week Rivera settles in Chile. The soon start of production in Salares Norte, in the Atacama region, occupies a large part of his hours. Gold production should begin in April of this year.

However, he indicated that the company is exploring around the mine. This is a program of more than 20 thousand initial meters of exploration per year.

He added that they have the Horizonte project that, although it is not as rich as Salares, has confirmed that it has interesting grades of gold and silver. The Ladera project is located along the same line and a little further north the Azufreras project. Starting the exploration of this set of projects is part of the objectives of Gold Fields in Chile.

Canada and a new beginning

Rivera also commented that Gold Fields will begin engineering studies for the Windfall gold project in Canada. This is an initiative for an underground mine.

The executive considered that Canada is a very pragmatic country, which despite having very demanding legislation, with a lot of supervision, shows a very fast response, so exploration requests can be answered in days, which differentiates it from the rest of the countries. from Southamerica.

"In a month one can have a response and can already be starting activities. It's very fast. I insist the concepts of permits in the countries are very similar, the difference is the efficiency of the institutions," she said.