I have been with Sierra Gorda SCM for ten years, as Legal Manager and as General Counsel since February 2022. In that role, I had the opportunity to achieve important milestones: I created the first Compliance Department, took over the responsibility of relations with neighbouring communities and corporate affairs, as well as building up the team to 22 excellent professionals (including a 100% female legal team), won a very large and ground-breaking arbitration on mining, got the environmental permit for a new project (in times when few mining companies in Chile can obtain environmental permits), introduced a totally revised image/branding of SGSCM that resulted very effective and successful, amongst other things.

What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

An important focus in my role – and a personal interest – is prevention; that is, staying ahead of events or incidents, setting up processes, training on legal and contractual matters, making contracts and legal information readily available to avoid conflicts or litigation. With internal awareness, strong sensitivity to commercial and legal issues, if conflict eventually arises, the pre-emptive approach ensures that its impact is as limited as possible. As a result, we have achieved a low litigation rate, which is very satisfying in my role as solicitor, but also time and money saving to the organisation.

I can specifically refer to two situations that demonstrate our preparedness to manage complex legal processes. The first was a case we had a few years ago with another large company in the industry, from which we came out successfully and stronger thanks to methodical teamwork, setting a legal precedent for other companies of our size.

Another tangible example is that, in eleven years of operation, we have never had a workers’ strike. This is partly due to the collaboration of the legal team in collective bargaining processes, providing the necessary space and knowledge to reach a good agreement and avoid crisis situations.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

This preventive approach undoubtedly helps teams to be better prepared to respond to uncertain situations, particularly in mining, where the focus is long term. It is also essential to stay informed about legal developments in the industry, including new regulations and technologies, and to strengthen internal teams’ capabilities in this regard.

AI has been taken seriously as a potentially revolutionary technological change in the legal world for a number of years now. Has it had a meaningful impact in how your legal team works in this time?

Artificial intelligence is already being integrated into management in various companies and sectors, and, when used well, it can be a great support tool. While there may come a time when a case can be presented, developed and decided by artificial intelligence, it will always be necessary for people, solicitors, to do the work of gathering information and build strong court cases. I do not see this as a negative thing, but rather as a new way of working.

Looking forward, what trends do you foresee in the legal landscape over the next 5–10 years that companies should prepare for?  

Firstly, ever-growing regulation, especially in productive industries such as mining. This is an area that definitely has many more regulations than other industries, and, over time it will have even more, so it is important to keep track of everything that is happening and where the regulations are heading, in order to prevent potential problems or situations that could affect companies. Compliance and social legitimacy must go hand in hand with financial outcomes.

Secondly, artificial intelligence. We have to adapt to it. In my case, I am studying it and hope to be able to apply it in the best possible way in my work, within my team and within the organisation at large – some operational areas of Sierra Gorda SCM have already incorporated AI very successfully.