'The level of crime that afflicts Mexico is a reality'

The Mexico City branch of Bureau Veritas is supporting miners with operations in the country to guarantee safety, profitability and quality.

BNamericas talks with commercial manager Karen Robles (left in photo) and business development manager Susana Yáñez (right) about the company’s business proposal, obstacles the mining sector faces and more.

BNamericas: As a service provider, what are the main challenges you see in Mexico's mining sector?

Robles: The production rate has slowed since the pandemic. The level of crime that afflicts Mexico is a reality; the mining sector is concentrated in areas with low levels of public security.

Uncertainty regarding the rule of law, especially for mining companies and the renewable sector, has also increased. And there is a lack of alignment between service provision and service acquisition, because it is different when an intangible service is bought.

BNamericas: How long has Bureau Veritas been operating in Mexico and how does your approach work?

Yáñez: We've been operating in Mexico for over 40 years. We specialize in testing, inspection and certification services. Worldwide, we have more than 1,600 offices and laboratories in over 140 countries. In Latin America, we operate more than 50 offices and laboratories. 

In Mexico, we have 29 offices and laboratories, with three laboratories focused solely on our metals and minerals division, providing support throughout the life cycle of projects, from exploration and acquisition to construction and operation, with services that cover products, assets, facilities and processes.

BNamericas: What are your most in-demand solutions?

Yáñez: We are develop solutions tailored to our clients' needs, contributing to environmental protection and guaranteeing people's safety, inserting ourselves in their value chain to ensure operational safety, evaluation of asset integrity, non-destructive tests, development of preventive and corrective maintenance plans, of operational reliability plans for fixed and mobile equipment, inspection and certification of lifting equipment based on common standards on design, manufacture and inspection of boilers and pressure vessels.

We also offer factory inspection for quality assurance, ranging from materials to processing, factory tests, shipment and installation and operation, as well as training to improve labor ministry safety standards and for lifting equipment operators to achieve zero incidents.

Finally, we offer environmental services and environmental monitoring solutions, including environmental impact, emergency response planning and process risk analysis.

On-site laboratory management is one of the most requested solutions by mining sector companies. We manage the operation of laboratories at the mine site so miners don’t have to get involved directly.

Another service which is in high demand is inspection at a factory or destination port. This service involves the presence of our inspectors throughout the chain, ranging from equipment or spare part production to installation at the mine. It’s also related to inspection of components, equipment assembly and observing tests.

BNamericas: What is the main reason for operating laboratories in the mining industry?

Robles: These laboratories are for quality control. It's not that an authority requests an external laboratory, but the mine is created to extract, produce, so quality assurance is often not a core business.

I don't want to say they don't know how to handle it, but what we do with our clients is take that responsibility away from them. For Bureau Veritas, this is a core business. We're an independent impartial third party guaranteeing safety and quality.

The other aspect relates to providing expertise in terms of systems, of the product being extracted. Many large miners like this part being handled by a third party, because that way they don’t face a conflict of interest.

In the laboratories, product quality is measured with different physical-chemical analyses to determine the level of purity.

BNamericas: What are the company’s plans?

Robles: We want to be part of the mining sector’s transformation, with more competitive and environmentally restrictive markets, contributing our technical knowledge and best practices to sector development and the country's economy.

Most mining companies and oil and gas companies have committed to this energy transition toward zero emissions, with protection of the environment. So, as part of our services, we monitor that the necessary actions are being carried out to protect the environment.