Cerro Verde Slope Failure Alarm System Recognized with Sustainability Award

February 14, 2025 - A new alarm system developed at Freeport’s Cerro Verde mine in Peru has been recognized with a Sustainable Development Award by Peru’s National Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy.

The project, which uses prism monitoring to predict large-scale mining collapses to help enable faster emergency response, won in the Innovation and Technology category of the sustainability awards at a ceremony in Lima. This is the first year the award was given in that category.

The system creates automated alarms for slopes with deformation that could lead to collapse. The early warnings – a minimum of two days in advance – allow more time to take preventive control measures and, if necessary, implement evacuation plans to prevent injuries and damage to equipment.

The project arose from a need to have real-time information on deformations of the mining slopes, which was not available with the previous alarm system. The new system includes enhanced interactivity and graphics intended to provide the user the best data possible to help make critical decisions.

Project author Darwin Torres, Geotechnical Junior Engineer II, said the award was the result of teamwork and “the high-performance culture that we embrace at Cerro Verde, thinking outside the box and focusing on using data to convert into information and thereby make the best decisions for the operation.

“It merges the use of new tools and technologies with knowledge and field experience to improve our processes, taking care of people and making the operation sustainable over time,” he said.

Photo: Darwin Torres developed a better way to monitor slopes to predict a big-mass collapse, allowing more time to respond.