In December 2015, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported that Veolia Peru had secured a three-year contract to operate and maintain a reverse osmosis plant serving the Cerro Lindo mine. Owned by mining group Milpo, the mine produced lead, zinc, copper and silver. The plant supplied 4,100 m³/day of process water, set to rise to 4,900 m³/day in 2016. Seawater was drawn at the coast and the treated water carried 40 km inland to the mine at 1,850 m elevation. The mine had ceased using river water in 2007.
The item reflected a pattern in Latin American mining: operations in water-stressed regions met process water needs with desalinated seawater, even across long distances and steep elevation gains.