- Peru | 12 September 2021
How was the past year for Quimtia?
2020 was a challenging year for the chemical sales sector, particularly in mining. We were able to achieve our targets, but the competition improved significantly, not only in the simpler products such as commodities, but also in specialties. We had triple the number of tenders compared to 2019, partly because customers want to reduce costs, but also because mining investment continues to grow in the country. For Quimtia Peru, mining sales represent around 30%. Compared to other lines, there are few customers and few products, but the volumes and prices are higher, and winning or losing a customer has a significant impact on the company.
Which business is currently moving the most in the mining sector?
The environmental side is a global trend, and we always look for opportunities in that segment. Another major trend is water treatment, for its reuse and to avoid using fresh water as much as possible. In this sense, there is a huge portfolio of chemicals, and we offer a very wide range so that customers can get the treatment they need. On the other hand, in addition to the chemicals we already have, we are studying how to enter the metallurgy part with equipment to optimize processes.
In the chemical part, we represent Peróxidos de Brasil for hydrogen peroxide, AGR (Australian Gold Reagents) for cyanide, and Nalco for water treatment. In the water treatment equipment part, we are working closely with SIGMA to increase our technical scope with customers and bring in new lines.
Could you tell us about the WaterShed technology for tailings?
The WaterShed technology goes hand in hand with water treatment. It is a process that compresses tailings strongly, allowing two things: as the main objective, to recover more water from the tailings with good quality, and as a secondary objective, to allow mines to stack tailings better. It is a high-cost technology, but the return that a customer can receive is much higher. It is not a simple product; it requires civil, seismic, and testing studies. It takes a couple of years to implement.
