The Superintendencia del Medio Ambiente (SMA) resolved to sanction the companies Puerto Caldera S.A. with a fine of 2,806 unidades tributarias anuales (UTA), and the company Servicios del Pacífico Limitada with another of 121 UTA, after verifying two environmental breaches in the execution of the “Muelle Punta Caleta” project, located in the commune of Caldera, Región de Atacama.
The initiative contemplates, at a minimum, the collection, transport, and shipment of iron, and the collection and shipment of copper concentrate, which has evaded entry into the Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (SEIA) and has not carried out the required process for its evaluation.
This sanctioning procedure originates from ten complaints presented to the SMA regarding breaches that the holders would have incurred, by being found executing a project for the collection and shipment of minerals without prior environmental evaluation, an activity to which the generation of contamination with particulate matter (MP) 2.5 and 10, the increase in truck traffic on unpaved roads, and the erosion of piles in the storage yards were attributed.
Based on the referred complaints, a subsequent inspection activity was carried out, to which pre-procedural provisional measures were ordered.
Based on these antecedents, the SMA formulated two serious charges against the companies in May 2021. The first charge imputed corresponds to the fragmentation of the project, which contemplates, at a minimum, activities of collection and shipment of copper concentrate; collection, transport, and shipment of iron, by Puerto Caldera S.A. and Serviport, related companies, with the generation of atmospheric emissions.
Regarding the second charge, it points to the non-compliance with the pre-procedural provisional measures decreed by the SMA in Resolución Exenta Nº241, of February 2, 2021, which referred to a series of actions aimed at controlling particulate matter emissions generated by the project.
