GEO MRI | MR Technology @ Yanacocha Mine | Peru:Vista-Clara Inc. Train-The-Trainer Program

"Mission Accomplished"! - The third round "Yanacocha | Peru MR-Logging" ("Mob#3") has been successfully completed. For me it was the second time up there at about 4,000 meters (12,000 ft ) above sea level - now as operations manager and "coach" for our Knight-Piesold (KP) Team | Peru | USA.

Why actually: "Train-The-Trainer Program"? - Specialists who are already well trained in a specific field (in this case: "Geology | Civil Engineering" | "Mine Safety Engineering", etc.) want to incorporate some "add-on value" to their field of activity – learning something new and applying it, which benefits the mine operation. We offer this in form of Vista-Clara Inc. MR-Logging Technology Services, ideally leading up to the point of the autonomous use of the instruments during future projects. We thus create a "win-win" situation for everyone involved.

Everything went well with | during this Mob#3 assignment, especially because the Peruvian colleagues work really well together, individually and collectively. Really impressive teamwork! At the same time, this positive experience has created for us a kind of "blueprint" for projects of this kind worldwide.

Hence, it was easy for me to set up the entire tool assembly of Vista-Clara Inc. MR-Logging Technology in Cajamarca and test it with a Peruvian colleague before the instruments were deployed in the mine the next day.

Fig.1: "Set up, test, use" - very easy if you work with the right people: In Cajamarca with Julio Gaspar, KP | Peru- Chief HSE Officer, prepping Vista Clara Inc. MR-Technology for our logging campaign at 12,000 ft above sea level. Our Peruvian team took care of everything - from HSE (Health Safety Environment), technical implementation of the task, logistics, and injecting "daily good luck" combined with lots of fun despite the hard labor. With such a team, our "Train-The-Trainer Program" on Vista Clara's robust tools is easy to achieve^

After four very intensive project days, Carlos Bravo, the young field project manager at KP |Lima/Peru and his compatriots had everything under control. Only a few times minor adjustments had to be made. Otherwise: top performance! One could observe with benevolence and satisfaction and conclude: "It works!" Of course, always in close cooperation and coordination with Vista-Clara Inc.'s support team in Mukilteo |near the metropolitan of Seattle: data checks, quality control, etc. It all went really well!

Occupational and environmental safety (HSE) was also consistently the top priority - starting with the early morning "Safety Meeting" before the actual measurements, through to the routine setting up of the construction site, the transport of all equipment to and from the work site | garbage removal | dangerous goods, and, of course, everything related to the electricity/energy supply.

Fig.2: HSE (Health Safety Environment) prior to | while | after the measurement was always top priority - and was also regularly checked by the mine operator (NEWMONT). Without incidents and necessary corrections, our logging mission ran smoothly every day -- albeit with a few interruptions due to the "Congas Roja" - severe thunderstorm warnings! (sometimes up to 4 per day).

Our MR logging measurements are contributing to the important task of assessing the stability of platforms and the steep slopes along the crater. We do this by providing reliable data on the water flow and water saturation in the subsoil. These, in turn, are sensibly and effectively integrated into other data sets by geotechnical experts and engineers of the mine operation. For this reason too, we had a random visit every day from a responsible mine operator representative (@NEWMONT), who kept a very close eye on what we were doing and when. Hence, this important part of "Corporate QC" also worked very well.

Of course, one cannot ignore the truth that modern gold mining means an extremely brutal encroachment on the natural resources of the surrounding country. No doubt!

Where in the past the Incas - without our typical "New World" drive for gold wealth - extracted the precious metal from the earth by natural means (so to speak, conducting "ecological gold mining"), today the wealth from the earth is brutally extracted and literally squeezed out with all available physical-chemical-mechanical brute force. What remains is an anthropogenically created comet-like impact crater, which - as Carlos Bravo (KP | Lima/Peru) once aptly described it - leaves behind some sort of an "anthropogenic geology".

Nevertheless: Over the decades, the mine operators have managed to develop a quasi-"sustainable" business model, in which the social component (e.g., by creating many and relatively well-paid jobs | setting up hospitals | schools) has a high "corporate" value.

At some mine sites plants in large sacks are waiting to be planted into the ground to strengthen the battered soil. Likewise, in some places whole chains of hills of limestone minerals pile up, which are used to reduce the immense over-acidification of the soil caused by the chemical application processes used in this type of gold mining.

Fig.3: Excesses of over-exploitation by gold mining operations are somewhat mitigated over time by planting the original, native vegetation, and the use of limestone minerals to reduce the severe acidification of the soil caused by chemical treatments used in this type of gold mining.

What remains is the impression that our Mother Earth is always literally "burning" for our "prosperity zestfulness" - and not just because of temperature-related climate change. On the other hand: who can blame the 8+ billion people in this world for wanting to get and use a piece of Mother Earth's treasures?

New approaches to old wisdom may be required perhaps every day anew:

AI vs. gluing-climate-activists, ... or rather applying the old Inca mentality of getting by without "money trading" vs. ...? Who knows?...

I myself cannot and do not want to answer such questions. At most, we can continue to “innovate” and strive to make our own nano-contribution to improving individual and collective life. Of course, also in Yanacocha | Peru. And especially when you get to work with such a strong “A-TEAM” like in this case. A real privilege!

Fig.4: "Adelante A-TEAM PERU!" -- employees of the Knight-Piesold (KP) | Lima/Peru Division in action for and with Vista-Clara Inc. MR logging technology in Yanacocha, the world's largest open pit gold mine. Enthusiasm, competence and willingness to learn, combined with joy at work - always concerned about safety, but uncompromising when it comes to the prospects of success and the achievement of set goals. A real career highlight to work with this KP-Team | Peru! Adding the logistical and technical support from the KP-Team | Colorado/USA, and of course via Vista-Clara Inc., all together it significantly increased our chances of success on a daily base.

Well done, everyone! ¡Bien hecho, todos!