Moving on to the production phase with its flagship copper project in Chile, Quebrada Blanca Phase 2, Canadian mining company Teck will not only have a major impact on the global supply of copper, increasingly in demand for the energy transition, but also on the life of this South American country. Varinia Aranguren, Commercial Director for the Teck QB2 Project, gave us an oversight of the project’s development, its challenges, and future expectations.
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Arcadis’s mission is to find solutions to today’s most pressing challenges, from the impact of climate change to urbanization and digital transformation, all with the goal of improving the quality of life for people around the world. This is reflected in the work it does for its clients, the opportunities it creates for its employees, and its efforts to improve the communities in which we all live and work. The company brings together world-class resources and the latest innovative technologies to help shape the cities and experiences of tomorrow.
Growing urbanization, climate change, increased digitalization, and greater societal expectations are presenting challenges for clients all around the world, and there is growing demand for the type of solutions
Established over 100 years ago, Teck Resources Limited has grown into Canada’s leading mining company, focused on providing products that are essential to building a better quality of life for people around the globe; with operations and projects in Canada, the United States, Chile, and Peru.
In Chile, the company currently has operations in Quebrada Blanca (QB) and
and services Arcadis offers to address these problems. In response, Arcadis’s strategy is centered on maximizing impact by providing focus, global scale and a strengthened sustainable and digital offering to the clients and communities it serves.
This vision is based on a balance between economic, environmental, and social perspectives, which is reflected in the quality of its projects and its commitment to sustainability. With offices in 70 countries, Arcadis can deliver exceptional and sustainable solutions throughout the entire project life cycle.
Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to business success and innovation, and Arcadis promotes a diverse and inclusive workplace, fostering the professional development and growth of all individuals within the company. In this sense, female leaders in the company stand out, from engineers and scientists to finance and marketing experts, demonstrating Arcadis’ commitment to gender equity and equal opportunities.
In Chile, Arcadis has collaborated with Teck Resources Ltd, a leading mining company committed to responsible mining and mineral devel-
Carmen de Andacollo (CDA) but its prime high-quality asset is the development at Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2), Teck’s flagship copper growth project. With the completion of QB2, Teck will double its consolidated copper production and has the potential to become one of the top 10 copper producers in the world.
The QB2 project is one of the largest undeveloped copper
opment. Together, we are developing innovative solutions to manage tailings deposits, a typical byproduct of mining.
During the development of the QB2 Tailings Facility project, collaboration played a crucial role in achieving success. A notable instance of this was the implementation of an optimized disposal strategy in the final stages of the project to mitigate the risk of start-up delays. This involved the development of a contingency plan, to account for potential delays in the dilution system start-up. The plan was formulated within a tight deadline and entailed adjusting the timing of pumping from the clear-water pond, identifying alternative pumping intake locations, and identifying potential additional works at an early stage. Thanks to this mutual effort, the project was completed within the desired timeline, and the risk of start-up delays was minimized.
The cooperation between Arcadis and Teck Resources Ltd in Chile is a prime example to its commitment to sustainability, and we are proud to be part of a team that is working towards a more sustainable future.
To find out more, visit Arcadis.com
resources in the world. QB2 has an initial mine life of 27 years with significant potential for future growth. The project incorporates extensive environmental measures, including the first large-scale use of desalinated seawater for mining in Chile’s Tarapacá Region and stringent protection of flora and fauna in the Andes.
Teck holds a direct 60% interest in Quebrada Blanca, while Sumitomo Metal
Mining Co., Ltd. And Sumitomo Corporation together have a collective 30% indirect interest in the mine, and ENAMI, a Chilean state agency, has a 10% non-funding interest.
The Quebrada Blanca mine is located in the Tarapacá Region of northern Chile at an elevation of 4,400 metres, approximately 240 kilometres southeast of the city of Iquique and 1,800 kilometres from Santiago.
Quebrada Blanca
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is currently an open pit operation, which leaches the ore to produce copper cathodes via processing in an SX-EW plant. Copper cathode is trucked to Iquique for shipment to purchasers. Some mine personnel live in a camp facility, with the majority commuting from large population centres, including Iquique, Concepción,
Arica, and Santiago.
Teck sanctioned the start of construction for QB2 in late 2018 and since then has faced and successfully handled numerous challenges to move the project into production in 2023.
Committed to succeed
Varinia Aranguren who has been in QB2 since early 2019, was
personally involved in making sure that the project withstands the challenges of both the global pandemic and local specifics.
“It is important to mention that no owner in Chile has ever built a project the size of QB2 including all its infrastructure, i.e., a desalination plant, 154 kms. of water and concen -
trate pipelines from the coast all the way up to the Andes, high voltage powerlines, a tailings management facility, a concentrator, and other major infrastructure, all at once. Teck decided to move forward with the construction, as part of the company strategy to significantly increase its copper production
given the metal’s critical role in the low-carbon transition.
A highly successful and driven executive with extensive international experience in commercial, contracting, materials management, and procurement strategic planning, development, execution, and delivery of multi-billion mining megaprojects in Canada, Chile, Peru, Australia, Russia, Dominican Republic, amongst others. Varinia has a proven track record of working in project development in the mining and metals industry and in operating at
senior levels.
She is passionate about the development and management of teams across multiple offices and locations, and with her superior management, leadership, and stakeholder management skills, she has always been set to achieve business key objectives.
For a woman to make it to the top in a largely male industry is unusual, but Varinia affirmed that she has never felt restricted in any way.
“I’m the second generation of a family that is working in mining. One of my most memorable trips as a child with the family was to a copper
concentrator where my father was working on a project. I was truly amazed and impressed by the sheer size of the operation, and my fate was sealed.”
She added that her brother and sister have all pursued engineering careers. “Even when raised in a very traditional country like Peru, my parents taught me that gender doesn’t mean restriction. All the children in my family were encouraged to aim high and told that anything is achievable once you set your mind on it and are prepared to work hard.”
After graduating, Varinia’s career took
off in Peru on one of the largest projects at that time, after which she progressed around the world across many countries from Australia to Russia, and in a variety of large-scale mining mega projects. She gained invaluable experience on a gold project in the Dominican Republic, an island with no tradition of mining, with significant challenges in terms of sourcing labour and materials and procurement management. “That experience is one of the many which shaped the professional that I am today and taught me to be creative in
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solving problems in a way that would move the project forward.”
Having moved to Vancouver in 2010, joining Teck in 2016 was a natural move, she stated. In 2019, a year before the pandemic, Varinia was seconded to QB2 in Chile, put in charge of contracts and procurement, accountable for all the contracting, purchasing and material management, traffic logistics, importing, as well as
warehousing across the multiple sites.
The global pandemic was challenging for the mining industry, among others. “The virus clearly brought challenges of a different nature and magnitude. In 2020, we had 15,000 workers hired at the site and social distancing was difficult. We had to reduce the workforce down to maintain critical services, but with the aim of retaining most of the employees and contractors previously engaged. We developed robust COVID
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management protocols to protect employee health and safety while at the same being able to safely ramp up the workforce once it was safe to do so.”
There was another challenge that Varinia managed to handle extremely well during the pandemic, a challenge on a personal level. Before moving to Chile, she had under-
gone the process of enrolling herself in a very demanding Executive MBA program with the Queen’s University in Canada and Cornell University in the US.
“My fear was that I would not be able to finish the courses because of the type of intense work I was doing. Still, despite all the difficult times, I managed to complete
the program during the Covid-19 pandemic with support from colleagues, friends, and family. Another achievement I am personally very proud of.”
Post-pandemic, Teck has continued to drive the completion of the QB2 project, with a peak of 14,000 people
“ “ EXECUTIVE INSIGHT MAGAZINE SPRING 2023 I
working on site, per shift. But it is not all about progression and profits, says Varinia. The company stays true to its reputation as a responsible employer, with sustainability and environmental protection high on the company’s agenda. Last year, Teck was named among global 100 most sustainable corporations for the fifth consecutive year and was the first mining company globally to set a goal of becoming nature positive.
“For Teck, working to become nature-positive means that by 2030, our conservation, protection and restoration of land and biodiversity will exceed the disturbance caused by our mining activities from a 2020 baseline.”
The company announced that some 5,800 ha of a unique and high-value wetland ecosystem near Teck’s Quebrada Blanca Op -
erations will be protected in partnership with the Ollagüe Quechua community. The initiative is the first of its kind in Chile.
QB2 project had a peak of 33,000 people working during its manufacturing and construction phases alone and will create quite a large number of permanent jobs once in production. Now that we’re ramping down, the expectation remains that Quebrada Blanca operations will be creating some 3500 permanent direct and undirect jobs in the industry.”
“Teck´s Social Management and HR teams have also implemented a number of programmes and projects with our communities, such as the ‘Choose to Grow’ plan, aimed at empowering talent within the area to train them and attract them to work for us.”
Furthermore, the operations team has recently reached 28% of female employees.
Summarising her 7 years working for the company, Varinia affirms that she feels very proud to belong to Teck and super proud to be part of the QB2 project. “I’m also very proud of the team that I basically built
from scratch. They have been really hard-working, achieving excellent results, and we are creating wonderful career opportunities for them in our copper pipeline of projects.”
She further pointed out that Chile is a very special place in terms of human resources, with its skills in mining. “Very few people realise for just how many years Chile has been building mine sites. Chile is one
of the countries with a long history in copper mining, one that started in 1870. Obviously, the pool of professionals in this field is huge and highly qualified. On the other hand, we are not the only company mining here, and our peers in the industry are numerous. We have, of course, locals working in QB2 but our teams are very diverse, with a lot of other nationalities as well.”
Going forward, she reflected that Teck has an industry-leading corporate copper growth pipeline of unrivalled suite of growth projects, not only in Chile, but also in other well-established mining countries around the world where the company is working.
“In terms of QB2, the expectation is that we will be fully ramped up this year.
“QB2 really takes us to the next level. It is a deposit that has the potential for future growth for generations.”
In concluding, she emphasises that the credit for the construction of this mega-project goes to the people, who work tirelessly on shift at 4,400 metres above sea level (and some 50m underwater). “Our workers deserve all credit and in terms of dedication we respect each and every one of them. Working remotely on shift, away from their families, they have been absolutely amazing, making the QB2 project a global success.”
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