Deal #7843 Version #87208

is occasionally inhabited by around 15 people, the Puesteros. 50 km from there, the first village, Santa Rosa de Pastos Grandes, has a population of 300. From the very start of the project, Eramet's teams established in-depth dialogue with these various communities. Several members of the CSR (corporate social responsibility) team are continually present on the ground to handle development projects. Quarterly meetings with the populations concerned to inform them about the project's progress, as well as to understand – and respond to – any concerns they may have. Implementation of a programme to train environmental observers among local communities, in collaboration with the UCASAL ( Private University of Salta).

Environmental: Decrease in the consumption of raw brine and water due to the high recovery rate of the process (direct extraction, forced evaporation).

Quinoa project: an ambitious initiative that has revived farming of this traditional grain in a region where this ancestral know-how had died out. Several pilot plots have been developed since the project was launched. A collection centre for quinoa productions has been built, while producers will be joining forces as part of a cooperative. The goal is to install the machines required for cleaning the grains to speed up the availability of production on the market. More than 100 people are involved in this project. A community organic garden project, which will give families living on the future production site access to fresh convenience goods, as well as pasture for their herds. Project to grow local services/suppliers/subcontractors: commitment by the Eramine CSR project on training, development and integration programmes for local subcontractors. 300 operators will be trained at a training centre directly incorporated into the site.(eramet)