About

Miguel Baeza has been vice president, general counsel, corporate affairs and sustainability at Sierra Gorda SCM, the last large mining project development in Chile, since 2014. With a total investment of $4.2bn, Sierra Gorda SCM has been in the process of developing and operating a molybdenum and copper concentrate producing mine in Chile. As a lawyer with long-term experience in the mining sector, Baeza changed the culture of his company concerning legal matters. ‘Before the legal department existed, the project team would call outside lawyers with no limitation whatsoever’, he says. ‘I built an internal legal department from scratch and implemented a corporate policy in relation to use of outside counsel, positioning the legal department as the hub for all regulatory and political matters’. This achievement brought cost and time efficiency benefits, as it introduced an element of longer-term planning. 2016 was a particularly challenging and memorable year for Baeza, as he successfully led the negotiations with trade unions that lasted 11 months. Prior to joining Sierra Gorda in 2014 Baeza worked at two Canadian gold mining companies, Goldcorp and Kinross, initially as senior lawyer and subsequently as vice president and general counsel. During his time there he impressed with his negotiating skills, while quickly and positively closing key transactions for the company, and his outstanding personal skills and network in the local market. He says: ‘I proudly remember I brokered a deal worth $7m, through a very tough negotiation with a very complicate third party and received a round of applause from the board upon completion!’