“We’re enabling a different type of workforce as new generations of miners come of age. It’s no longer a pickaxe and a hard hat in a dirty underground environment – you can be sitting in a very clean office environment and still call yourself a miner today.”
– Todd Pereira
Manager of Project Technology
We’ve got a unique opportunity at Hermosa to do things differently in the mining industry.
Traditionally, older mines are juggling generational technology differences that have been introduced periodically throughout the mine’s life on an ad hoc basis.
At Hermosa, we can build that technological foundation from the start with the future in mind and ensure that we’re not piecemealing technological solutions. That mindset makes for a more seamless process to ensure we are getting the right monitoring data to the right people at the right time and helps our project live up to its goal of setting a new standard for sustainability.
The best example of that work is Hermosa’s embrace of remote operations at Centro, our planned operations center in Nogales, Arizona, about 28 miles south of the Hermosa site.
Similar to air traffic control, Centro will enable many employees to remotely monitor and operate mining equipment located at our mine site in the Patagonia Mountains from the comfort of a commercial office-like building that accommodates them and the technology they need. That’s hardly the picture people imagine when they think of mining operations.
We’re enabling a different type of workforce as new generations of miners come of age. It’s no longer a pickaxe and a hard hat in a dirty environment – you can be sitting in a very clean office environment and still call yourself a miner today. Similarly, our embrace of remote operations opens job opportunities to men and women of different abilities that may have not been able to participate in mining activities of the past.
Locating Centro is no accident – we carefully selected its planned location in Nogales after nearly two years of consideration so that we can deliver on our commitment to ensure the benefits of the project stay in the Santa Cruz County area.
Centro provides opportunities for the next generation right here at home.
At peak operations, Centro will host around 200 full-time employees over several shifts in a 24-hour period. And with South32’s target of hiring 80 percent of its workforce from the local community, that means the creation of hundreds of good-paying jobs for Santa Cruz County residents, including those without prior mining experience or who have been historically excluded from the mining industry.
Adding to its benefits, Centro also helps us attain our clean energy goals by reducing commuter traffic to and from our mine site and, for those who need to travel to site, serving as a pick up point for our employee park and ride service to take employees to our other sites – reducing transportation-related emissions.
In my experience, you don’t get to build new mines too often. You certainly don’t get to build them with this culture and focus on the safety and technology that South32 is bringing to the Hermosa project. The Hermosa Difference is how we are incorporating best-in-class, proven technology into this project that is going to be exemplary.