Introduction

Abstract

Engineers are passionate about technology, how to use it and how to develop it. As engineering students, we learn about mining as a continuous process of extraction. We also learn about how ore is transformed through various processes before it is mined and made into a metal. As mining and petroleum engineers we learn about the technical details of the extraction process. When analyzing specific minerals, we investigate how to extract the ore so that it is financially viable while removing “contaminants” that make the metal “impure.” As mechanical, chemical, materials, civil, and electrical engineers, we might be interested in the processing of these minerals and oils, or we might just use them to make our smart materials, our bridges, our cars, and our soaps. We learn about health and safety issues and risk assessment of our models in general, but we don’t consider the real impact on specific groups of people. We learn about the importance of water and the role it plays in all mining operations—we learn about grinding, flotation, cyclones, separation, electrowinning, and concentration but we don’t learn about how people are affected by the depletion of water. In Jujuy, Argentina everyone in mining circles talks about the big lithium deposits, essential for the production of smartphones and electric car batteries. But the Kolla people have challenged lithium exploitation not only because they have not been consulted but also because they fear water shortages in this very arid area. Some may learn about ethics and environmental impact but in generic ways with no real appreciation of the details of how peoples, their lands, and ecologies are disrupted. Few engineering students are exposed to the day-to-day pain that people suffer who live in close proximity to a mine site. As Bruce Harvey formerly Global Practice Leader—Communities and Social Performance at Rio Tinto, told us:

...The irony of course is that we would never dream of developing a mineral resource without getting a comprehensive picture of the resource, drilling it out at a requisite drill spacing, understanding the chemical composition, understanding the material handling characteristics of the ore itself, we would never dream of building a large coal washery without actually doing a lot of very expensive bench testing on the wash characteristics of the coal. Yet regularly we go into places and spend billions of dollars without understanding the social fabric in which we’re working in which we now know is the most important fabric right? (Harvey, 2014¹) [1].