Through an innovative community participation model called the 'Social Framework Agreement', more than 700 leaders from the Santander municipalities of California, Surat and Matanza , in alliance with the Soto Norte Project (PSN), work on the construction and collective definition of a social investment plan that benefits all the inhabitants of your province. Its execution will exceed 1.3 million dollars.
This initiative is a historic commitment of the private sector to boost the economy of Santander and generate social sustainability, based on the protection of water, the economic development of the province and community well-being translated into better conditions of education, health, housing and mobility. , in other aspects.
According to Yaneth Mantilla, Vice President of Strategic Affairs of the Soto Norte Project, this initiative demonstrates a new business model, with mining that cares for the territory and its people, and confirms that companies can change the way they relate to communities to build trust. , always from the base of compliance and social dialogue.
“Nothing is more important than listening to young people, to women who are heads of households, to our peasants, to our traditional miners, and to the inhabitants who, like us, are only moved by the interest of seeing their province progress. The community itself is the one that has chosen, through voting and participation, the lines of investment and the projects that most benefit everyone,” Mantilla said.
For their part, residents of Soto Norte have recognized this participation and collective construction. William Arias, manager of the San Rafael de Matanza Hospital, welcomed "this democratic exercise of participation with which I believe the mining company and the Soto Norte Project are on the right path." Likewise, Omeida Sarabia Arrieta, a traditional mining company from California, affirmed that “everything that the Soto Norte Project is doing seems very good to me and I hope it will come to a happy end for the benefit of our people, especially the road infrastructure that we need so much. ”.
The name of the Soto Norte Project honors one of the most important provinces of Santander, made up of the municipalities of Surat, Matanza, Charta, Tona, Vetas and California ; the last two with a mining vocation of more than 450 years. Precisely in California, the PSN has a marked visibility that is also evident in Surat and Matanza, municipalities where social investment has exceeded 50,000 million pesos during the last seven years, without the Soto Norte Project having started operation.
These resources have made it possible to adapt schools and colleges for a better educational quality; provide bilingualism programs and scholarships to guarantee the professional education of young high school graduates; build, adapt or improve road connections or footprint plates to guarantee mobility, especially in the rural sector; and advance in "vital infrastructure" works that guarantee timely health care. People have even been trained to develop brands and ventures, some of which are already exporting their products to countries such as the United States, Australia, Spain, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Mexico.
An example for the world
The support and promotion of mining formalization, as well as advancing in programs and strategic alliances with different NGOs, institutions and universities for water conservation, are also part of those bases that the Soto Norte Project is laying for a promising future and a present marked by progress and community welfare for Santander.
In April 2023, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in the development of the 'World Forum on responsible mineral supply chains' held in Paris (France), recognized Calimineros and the Soto Norte Project as examples for the world for its model of coexistence and co-responsibility between the industry and traditional mining.
Currently, Calimineros, aligned with the purposes of the PSN and with its technical and legal support, signed an agreement with the international NGO Pure Earth to start the decontamination of tailings with mercury that, when coming into contact with the waters of the Surat river, affect the a tributary that is captured by the Bucaramanga Aqueduct to supply 2 million Santandereans.
With these efforts, the presence of the Soto Norte Project in the department has allowed it to take the lead in developing initiatives that promote the development of the province, community well-being, and water protection.