RE:New Minister of Mines appointed in Peru Great news for PLU! Mrs. Susana Vilca is from Puno and has more than 30 years of experience in the mining sector, in both the private and public sector, including being a congressman (part of the Energy & Mines Comission), Vice Minister of Mines, president of INGEMMET and Director of the Institute of Mining Engineers of Peru (IIMP).
But, more important, during his tenure in the public sector she has witnessed the constant struggles of the PLU team to have the uranium legaislation approved. She herself presented bills (legislative project) on this matter, which she have developed along with the PLU team, in particular with Ulises Solis. As a result of that work, a close friendship emerged between Ulises Solis and Mrs. Susana Vilca, which Ulises himself has mentioned many times in his public presentations.
For example, in the Conference through which the Falchani discovery was announced in Peru (July 2018), Mr. Solis referred to Mrs. Vilca in the following terms (1) (mark 6:42):
(...) Then we participate with them (the communeros), they work with us, we lead a life together, we live with them, and there we are, we are giving the struggle as they say, with the communities, and the great concern that we have at this moment and thanks to heaven the engineer Susana Vilca is here, which was one of the first legislators to develop a bill that would allow the exploitation of radioactive minerals in the country, which we do not have. The question of some of you is going to be, and how are you going to exploit? Oh, I do not know, I have the General Mining Law. As my grandmother used to say, "the load is fixed on the way". We'll see what happens. But I remember very much Mrs. Susana Vilca presented a bill, you already know how the congressmen are, what the authorities are like, they only attend when the problem is present, when the potato is hot. There is no regulation that allows the exploitation of radioactive minerals. Well, but you also understand why, modesty aside, who knows about uranium or who knows about lithium in Peru? There is no mine in the country, nor in South America. Mine as a mine, not as a brine. Of uranium, less. So we are in the struggle, we are visiting Congress, we have been on this issue since 2007, with Mrs. Susana, trying to get the bill issued but this last government has changed so many ministers that one goes, knocks on the door of the Minister of Energy and Mines and the next day someone else attends, I mean you can not work this way. We hope that the engineer Ismodes now lasts a good time because investors come from Canada, they meet and after a week they changed the minister, so you can not work this way.
Recently, at an event organized in Puno by the College of Engineers of Peru (October 2019), Mr. Solis referred again to Mrs. Vilca (2):
(...) there is legislation, I can exploit uranium tomorrow. But the issue is how do I transport it? How do I market it? That is not regulated, do you understand? So, the law for exploitation exists, what I don't know is how I'm going to transport it, how I'm going to market it. We have presented, I believe, up to 19 bills, and witness to this is Mrs. Susana Vilca, who is your countrywoman, who has been president of INGEMMET, who has been Congressman of the Republic, who is a Mining Engineer, who is a beautiful person, who is a professional in the best sense of the word. We have had two meetings with her. So we have not fallen asleep. And not only at the time of Mrs. Susana, with all governments. But as the engineer who preceded me in the use of the word has said, we have not advanced in that, and we cannot wait for Congress to take something out. In my town there is a saying that says "on the way the load is fixed", right? We have to push, because if we are going to stay waiting, we will remain seated for a lifetime.
Now I'm wondering, among all the possible candidates in the private and the public sector, why has President Vizcarra chosen Mrs. Vilca? Has he read the last PLU's press release? I ask this because, if I were Vizcarra I would meet with the PLU team and tell them: "We ahve problems with las Bambas, we failed with Tia Maria, and Quellaveco is not being easy either. So I want you to work along with MINEM to make the Falchani project a reality. Now that we' have to appoint a new Minster of Mines, do you have any candidate?"
(1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_dUr7dCMlM (2)
https://stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard?symbol=v.plu&postid=30329964