How do you approach managing legal issues during periods of instability or crisis, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure organisational resilience?

A context of instability or crisis is the seed of a constant chain of outcomes that the professionals of an organisation must face, maximising their capacity for awareness of reality and adaptation to the complex scenarios that are always experienced in this stage of disturbance, with the aim of finding opportunities to mitigate or rebound it.

A strategy for these scenarios is not built initially or during a crisis where the risk materialises, one addresses the management of legal aspects previously identifying the possible risks for each area of the company to establish an action plan in order to mitigate any impact that the economic activity we carry out receives. The leadership of the organisation’s officials is extremely important when internalising the relevance of building a crisis management strategy and strengthening it periodically.

In 2023, Peru experienced the negative factual effects of the coup d’état of former President Pedro Castillo, affecting several transportation routes in mining departments in the south of the country, as well as strategic facilities (airports), temporarily affecting the supply chain of industrial and domestic inputs that allows the continuity of any economic activity. This possible event and its specific consequences in our mining operations had been identified prior to the crisis context with the company’s management team designing an action plan at a contractual level, to guarantee the supply of supplies, not affecting the payment and debt chain, as well as deliveries of mineral concentrates. At work, we aimed to prioritise maintaining the safety of our collaborators and trying not to incur suspension or cuts in employment relationships; and at a legal level, the implementation of a catalogue of actions at the administrative, judicial and constitutional level has allowed the strengthening of the mining business strategy, which to date remains in a scenario of sustained post-crisis production.

What steps has your company taken to integrate sustainability practices into its core business operations and how does the role of general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?

In 2023, the company has made the firm decision to implement sustainability practices aligned with the sustainable development objectives, designing a strategy focused on education, environment, health, and culture. In the field of education, the first pilot of the “Maytukunapa Kanan” project has been carried out, based on the implementation of a library with texts suitable for primary education (coordinated with the culture sector of the Cusco region, which also registers them). This initiative aims to utilise a reading comprehension program to generate baseline indicators. With the dedication of our students and the support of their teachers, complemented by the anaemia combat program (Maca Projects with Punche and Miski Cushuro) for school breakfasts, we anticipate an upward trend in indicator traceability. We aspire to replicate this successful experience elsewhere. Likewise, we have obtained scholarships from the CIDE of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru for our collaborators in its Digitalization academy for mining women.

In environmental matters, we have actively participated in the programs promoted by the Ministry of the Environment called “Great Business Green Crusade,” planting trees in the Arequipa and Cusco region, monitoring their development, and “Bring your WEEE” which encourages the practice of recycling solid waste. Likewise, we have ratified our alliance with the NGO Aniquem, collaborating with the delivery of qualified solid waste in the EPS authorised to support children who have suffered burns. It is important to mention that an alliance has been consolidated with the Environmental Law Commission of the Peruvian Society of Law to implement the “Pachamamanta Yachachi Ykuna” and “Clasekuna Wayra Pacha” programs aimed at promoting the environmental education of our collaborators.

Finally, it is important to indicate that, since our main activities are in the department of Cusco, one of our main practices is to promote the conservation and dissemination of its culture and customs, giving great emphasis to the majesty of the Quechua language and other traditions so that they last in the time, this with coordination of central, regional, municipal, and communal government authorities.