Legitimacy strategies of mining companies related to social conflicts in Argentina

JULIETA GODFRID

Pilar

Congreso; LAEMOS CONFERENCE; 2018

LAEMOS

In the last twenty years there hasbeen a significant growth in the mining activity at a global level, givingplace to a new distribution of the extractive scenery. It is in this contextthat Latin America plays a central role as one of the main mineral reserves inthe world and is now the first destiny of investment in mining exploration. Aflood of investment in the region did not discriminate among those countrieswith a mining tradition over the ones without. It even generated a skyrocketedincrease in the activity in Argentina, for instance.In Argentina, there has been a fastdevelopment of open pit mining projects generally managed by transnationalcompanies. At the same time, socio environmental conflicts, which show a strongcriticism against the activity, are also on the increase (Giarracca y Hadad, 2009; Machado Aráoz, 2009; Svampa,et al., 2009; Wagner y Giraud, 2013).From then on, and within a global strategy frame carried out by the miningsector, the mining companies that operate in Argentina have implementeddifferent initiatives on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Taking into consideration the expansion of suchinitiatives from the mining companies, the key questions of our research are asfollows: what strategy are transnational mining corporationsusing in Argentina when faced with the surge of socio environmental conflicts?And what are their consequences at a territorial level?In order to deepen our investigation we decided to work on the analysisof a case study (Stake, 1994) involving two transnational mining companiesworking in Argentina. The two most important large-scale mining projects inArgentina: Alumbrera, in the province of Catamarca, and Veladero, in theprovince of San Juan. The first one is operated by the transnational companyGlencore and the second by Barrick Gold. Alumbrera is the first open pit miningproject in Argentina, therefore, due to its long history (since 1997 tillpresent time) we can clearly notice and analyze the economic and environmentalchanges in the neighboring areas. On the other hand, Veladero is the secondmining project in importance currently operating in Argentina. It is also infamousfor its multiple cyanide spills on its neighboring areas causing continuousunresolved conflicts.Our research has focused on two specific areas: one of primary influenceand one of secondary influence, as defined by the mining companies in theircorporate social reports. In the case of La Alumbrera, we studied Amaicha del Valle, located in Tucumán,which is regarded as an area of second influence. As for Veladero, we studied Iglesia, located in San Juan, which is aprimary area of influence for the company. We worked from a qualitative pointof view. Fieldwork was also performed three times in the Argentinian provincesof Tucumán (2012 and 2013), Catamarca (2012) and San Juan (2016). During thisperiod observations were made as well as in-depth interviews with communityrepresentatives, farm producers, members of aboriginal communities, publicofficials, corporate executives, among others. Likewise, and as part of myresearch, I gathered and analyzed CSR corporate reports, which are theircommunicational strategy to establish a link with the local communities.As a way of conclusion, I find that territorial intervention from miningcorporations, in their CSR initiatives, reshapes not only local territories butalso local knowledge. This process of reshaping is produced from therearticulation of the preexistent economies benefiting the corporations. Whatis more, the State encourages this rearticulation through its mining policiesand formal or informal connivance with the companies.