RE:RE:RE:My only concern with $ARG is draught conditions in ChilePart of Auroras comments in the call
Here is an update on our water situation. The 2021 rainfall season in Chile is now over and marked a return to drought conditions. Although not as dire as in 2019, which was the worst drought in Chilean history. Notwithstanding MVC has been able to maintain healthy level of water reserves in U.S., which are currently 7.3 million cubic meters. This is down from a peak of 10.5 million cubic meters at the end of the 2020 rain season, because water content in our fresh tailing stream is critical to our processing, MVC has held discussions with El Teniente concerning their own water risk assessment for 2022.
Given the latest defrost water flow reports prepared by Chile’s general directorate of water El Teniente does not currently expect any water supply shortages in 2022. So that is also excellent news for us. Water supply is very much on the radar of all miners in Chile, major such as Antofagasta, and Anglo American have publicly flagged ongoing drought conditions in their areas of operation as a substantial operating risk and have adjusted their own 2021 production guidance downward.
During the plant shutdown, MVC completed most of the work to optimize its three water thickeners, which are core to MVC’s ability to recirculate water in the plant. All the new electrical equipment and measure pumps for the three thickeners are now in place. And one of the thickeners now has all the bells and whistles. The upgrades in thickener two will be completed during MVC’s plant maintenance shutdown in Q1 2022. The third thickener will not require a prolonged plant shutdown to be completed and MVC will assess the best time to do this next year without hindering our product plan.
To sum up, well, there is no immediate water supply risk identified for 2022, MVC will continue to assess its mid and long-term water supply risk. We’re constantly striving to increase our water efficiency, and as some example, our team in Chile is evaluating ways of reducing water evaporation in [indiscernible] during the summer months. This initiative will not be the last of our efforts.
In October, MVC underwent the external audits required to obtain the ISO 5001 energy management system certification. This will validate MVC as an organization with a system in place to achieve continual improvement of energy performance, including energy efficiency, use and consumption. MVC expects to officially receive this important certification in Q1 2022.
The weather site was probably Ventusky.