The Project Director, George Cockburn, and the Project Environmental Protection Specialist, Alvaro Paredes will be leading this mission to Val d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda, in the Province of Quebec and Kirkland Lake in the Province of Ontario. The mission will then proceed to Sudbury, Ontario and coalesce with WBS activity 431 (see separate news release). The members of mission WBS 326 will include five Regional Directors of the Dirección Regional de Energía y Minas (DREM) and a representative of the Ministerio de Energía y Minas (MEM) in Lima.
The Regional DREM directors on this mission will be Sr. Remigio López, Director Regional de Cerro de Pasco, Sr. Alvaro Mejía, Director Regional de La Libertad, Sr. Sergio Palomino, Director Regional de Moquegua, Sr. Jaime Gonzáles, Director Regional de Junín, Sr. Ernesto Sagua, Director Regional de Puno. The MEM representative will be Sr. Alfredo Rodríguez, Director de Promoción y Desarrollo Minero. All DREM Regional Directors were appointed during the last 8 months.
The primary object of this mission is to provide a vision of regionalisation/decentralization of government services in the mining sector in Canada, covering numerous aspects from access to geosciences information to the administration of mining legislation (to be covered by the Québec Ministère des Ressources naturelles de la faune et des parcs in Rouyn-Noranda and by the Ontario Department of Northern Development and Mines in Kirkland Lake), to health and safety in mines (to be overseen by the Commission Scolaire de l’Or-et-des-Bois in Val d’Or) and environmental protection measures (to be covered summarily by the Québec Ministère des Ressources naturelles de la faune et des parcs in Val d’Or), amongst others topics of interest.
In Canada, most Canadian Provinces have regional mining offices many of which have been in existence for more than half a century. Canada’s experience with regional offices is exemplary and will of course be of particular interest to the mission participants.
In Peru, the Process of Regionalization/Decentralization is a high-priority policy of the Peruvian Government and the PERCAN Project will be assisting in this effort, through institutional strengthening at both the national and regional levels, working closely with the the Ministerio de Energíia y Minas (MEM) and the Regional Governments.