We support communities by working together with governmental authorities and investing significant resources to understand their needs and expectations.
How we measure performance
Local Workforce
% of workforce from local communities
Local Procurement
value of goods and services
Social Partner
days of community-related stoppages
Social Investor
% of revenue spent on social investment
OUR APPROACH TO SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES
Our communities are one of our most important stakeholders that we work with. Hochschild’s aim is to ensure its positively contributing towards our communities’ social development agenda in a meaningful way.
The Hochschild way is to promote close collaboration with our local communities with full respect for local customs, social dynamics and human rights.
Social engagement strategy focus areas
Engaging with our communities
We engage in regular dialogue with local communities and monitor our social impact by gathering detailed feedback. Our community relations activities ensure that stakeholders are informed of Company activities, queries are responded to, and any suggestions regarding projects that have any impact on them are encouraged and received. Communication channels are tailored to each community in order to maximise engagement. Typical engagement channels we adopt include guided site visits, meetings with authorities & community members, focus groups, and participatory environmental monitoring.
We have Permanent Information Offices (PIOs) in a town near our Inmaculada site and in Pallancata. Offices are also located in Perito Moreno, in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina. The purpose of the PIOs is to support the communities, acting as a point of contact to communicate current and potential activity of mining related projects. The PIOs also receive and manage any grievances that may arise. We also offer digital services through WhatsApp and Facebook channels. Through this ‘Virtual PIO’ we are now able to provide maps, charts and documents with community members in an accessible manner.
Community investments and supporting local governments
We make investments in various social programmes that benefit the communities in our areas of influence; this is a core part of our overall community strategy. In 2023, we invested a total of $8.18m towards our four strategic intervention areas (connectivity, education, health and nutrition and socio-economic development), ad hoc philanthropic campaigns, and in providing technical assistance to municipalities. The detailed breakdown is presented below:
|
Social investment category |
Investment ($) |
|
Education |
897, 001 |
|
Health and nutrition |
491, 837 |
|
Development |
1, 332, 311 |
|
Philantropic campaigns |
244, 009 |
|
Culture and communication |
379, 812 |
|
Local governments* |
3, 752, 810 |
|
Donations |
1, 077, 266 |
*The local governments category includes US$3,625,818 disbursed to the UniRSE fund of the Santa Cruz province in Argentina.
Local employment
Generating employment opportunities for residents living near our mining operations is a key part of our community contribution. We strive to generate local employment opportunities and aim to gradually increase this over time. In 2023, local employment, including people from communities near our mining sites and from the provinces where we operate in Peru and Argentina accounted for 59% of the total mine workforce. This figure includes both Hochschild’s direct employees and permanent contractors in our mining sites in Peru and Argentina. This is an encouraging improvement from 53% in the previous year, against a 2030 ambition of 60%.
In addition, Hochschild’s “Conexión Futuro” programme was designed to increase employability in the rural areas surrounding our mines in Peru through technical skills training, benefiting over 600 community members with free access to digital centres and digital training in 2023.
Procuring local goods and services
Alongside creating local employment opportunities, we also look for ways to support local businesses. This is a core activity at Hochschild, and one that enables business to generate long-term, tangible socio-economic value for communities. In 2023, we procured goods and services from community-run businesses from communities near our mining sites and from the provinces where we operate in Peru, Argentina and Brazil worth $156m.
2023 Highlights
Local mine workforce vs total mine workforce in Peru and Argentina* (2022:53%)
Local procurement in Peru, Argentina and Brazil* (2022: $119.4)
Spent or donated to benefit local communities and local governments in Peru and Argentina (2022: $6.89m)
*Local refers to people working at the mines or businesses that belong to the regions where the Company operates (Peru: Apurimac, Arequipa, Ayacucho and Cajamarca; Argentina: Santa Cruz; Brazil: Goias)