new energies for mining. The Minister of Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality, Loles López, and the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines, Jorge Paradela, have held a working meeting with mining companies that develop projects in the province of Huelva, in which they highlighted the economic and social contribution they make to the municipalities and regions where these initiatives are based and the opportunity for growth offered by the energy transition process, in which Huelva metal mining is called upon to play a very relevant role.
In this line, Jorge Paradela He has pointed out that his Ministry is preparing the Strategy for Sustainable Mining 2030, the roadmap that will mark the support of the Junta de Andalucía to the sector and that it is being designed hand in hand with mining companies and unions. The intention is that this document, which “emphasizes issues relating to both environmental sustainability and social sustainability, will be available in the first half of July”, reported the counselor.
“The mining sector has an extraordinary opportunity due to the energy transition: the batteries of an electric car, its wiring, wind farms, photovoltaic plants or the distribution and transport network of the electricity sector require significant amounts of copper and other minerals in which Huelva is very well represented”, said the counselor, who has exemplified initiatives such as the creation of a General Directorate of Mines and the Interdepartmental Commission that coordinates the efforts of ten ministries in relation to the processing of mining projects, the support of the Andalusian Government to this industry.
Likewise, Jorge Paradela has highlighted that five of the seven mining projects that have been assigned to the Project Accelerator Unit (UAP) correspond to the province of Huelva, which add up to a joint investment of 1,000 million euros and which will mean the creation about 5,800 jobs.
“Today, mining has the safety and health of its employees as a fundamental priority, but it also leaves an increasingly positive and accentuated mark on the social environment of the municipalities and regions where they carry out their activity”, Paradela has had an impact, who has pointed out that his department is carrying out a study on the situation of equality between men and women in industry and mining in Andalusia which, in addition to the diagnosis, will analyze the good practices that are carried out in Spain and in the European Union, and will recap the best initiatives implemented in the different Andalusian provinces.
For her part, the Minister of Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality, Loles López, highlighted the mining potential of the province of Huelva and pointed out “the social face” of this sector, which contributes to the generation of stable employment. and the fixation of the population to the territory.
After emphasizing that the mining sector is “a catalyst for associations in the towns”, the counselor referred to how “the town halls of the mining towns are strengthened by the corporate social responsibility activity of these companies”.
Corporate social responsibility of mining
Thus, this corporate social responsibility is reflected, for example, in aid to students from many towns so that they can pursue their university studies or in donations of computer equipment to local associations and groups, collection of solidarity food and toys for families with fewer resources, among other actions such as direct collaboration with social associations.
“We are talking about synergies between the business and the social, which are an example of how the business world can return part of the benefits generated by its activity to society,” continued López, who made clear the support of the Government Andalusian to mining, which is “an economic and employment engine” in the province.
The counselor, who has reiterated the need to all work together for “a fairer, more egalitarian and more inclusive society”, has maintained that the company’s corporate social responsibility is key to progress in this direction and has valued the work of the companies in the sector.
Public-private collaboration plays “a fundamental role”, as added by Loles López, who recalled that the investments of these companies translate into employment and wealth for the territory. “The mine in Huelva is synonymous with employment, employment that stays in the province, that generates wealth in Huelva and that is key to the development of our towns”, indicated the head of Social Inclusion, who has assessed how a sector As masculinized as mining, it increasingly has a female presence in its different activities and processes.
The directors have been accompanied by the general director of Mines, Jesús Portillo; the territorial delegate for Social Inclusion, José Manuel Borrero, and the territorial delegate for Industry, Energy and Mines in Huelva, Lucía Núñez
