PABLO RODRÍGUEZ CAVIEDES POLYTECHNIC HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS VISIT MINERA TRES VALLES
The 4th year D students that are specializing in extractive metallurgy from the Polytechnic High School located inside of Illapel came to evaulate the company’s production process.
About 30 students and professors from the Pablo Rodríguez Caviedes Polytechnic High School toured the Minera Tres Valles facilities on Tuesday, November 7. The guided tour was led by the Plant Superintendent, Ricardo Vergara, who explained the process of producing copper cathodes in both a theoretical and practical way.
The tour included a visit to the crushing plant where students appreciated the work of the primary, secondary and tertiary crushers. The second stop was the electrowinning plant where future professionals found themselves analyzing the final product of this process, high grade copper cathodes.
Ricardo Vergara, Plant Superintendent at Minera Tres Valles, said that this visit “forms part of the objectives established by Tres Valles to maintain a direct relationship with its communities. This activity allowed us to expose young people to the hydrometallurgical work we do, and we were also able to demonstrate that theoretical and practical knowledge are aligned on the same path; the students have theoretical knowledge and could appreciate it in a practical way through this activity.”
On behalf of Guillermo Saavedra, coordinator of the technical professional area at Pablo Rodríguez Caviedes Polytechnic, he stressed that this “experience has been an excellent opportunity for our students since it has made it possible for them to connect the productive sector with what they see in their curriculum. Accessing the facilities of a mining company allowed us to see the real-life application of the work that we have carried out in modules, workshops and internships. In addition, meeting alumni who have studied this same career is a very good way to show how they have developed from their education.”
Nicolás Donoso, student from the extractive metallurgy specialty, said that “this was a unique experience because I learned new topics beyond what we see in the polytechnic school; it was a pleasure to visit the facilities and learn more about them.”
Felipe Guerrero, metallurgist at Tres Valles and guide to the visitors, emphasized that “these visits provide learning opportunities for both the students and teachers. Students can evaluate what they have learned theoretically by seeing how the machinery and processes work; teachers, on the other hand, can examine how well their curriculums teach what actually goes on inside of the processing plant and in the field.