Socio-Environmental Risk Assessment Model in Peruvian Junior Mining Exploration Projects

The mining exploration projects exhibit high financial and operational risks because of the uncertainty that is associated with finding the presence of minerals. However, a risk that is not commonly associated with such projects is the socio-environmental aspect even though an initial contact with the community has been established at this stage. Further, certain social responsibility models are observed to be effective; however, their applicability is difficult in high-risk fields, such as exploration, because of the high cost and time required for their application. Therefore, the objective of this study is to propose a socio-environmental risk assessment model that can be used to measure the risk levels and to prevent potential conflicts. The proposed method analyzes the perceptions and vulnerability of the communities to identify their socio-environmental risks and to obtain the final risk index of the project. Further, the application of this method can be explained by conducting a case study in the influential areas of the Antakori Project in Cajamarca, Peru.