Abstract

For decades, mining in Chile has been the main engine for economic growth, and on a national level, has become a fundamental pillar for the creation of the materials that sustain the development of civilized life. However, this industry presents large technological and environmental challenges to confront in the XXI century. The decrease in the quality of grades has led to further deepening of the existing deposits, determining the existence of a greater quantity of waste generated in a shorter period. In this manner, the negative externalities of the mining activity increase the probability of contact between the waste and the environment, communities and other productive soils. For this reason, the objective of this investigation is to propose new logics to organize mining spaces, more harmoniously with the environment, including the study of territorial planning ordering of the industrial mining waste, where based on a systemic approach, the cities of the IV Region of Coquimbo Chile are evaluated, integrating their key agents and interactions. We employ Multi-Criteria Evaluation techniques, risk assessment and the integration of special data into the Geographic Information System (GIS), with the purpose of determining the optimal locations to deposit industrial waste, categorizing the territory from levels of highest to lowest risk. In addition, it’s stated using cellular automata, how to define a logistical plan of sustainable distribution of the waste, for a determined mining site, evaluating the interaction of a determined rhythm of waste production, with the variable dynamic of the wind, in a ∆t, determining the maximum threshold of an optimal defined location, in a scenario of ti y ti+1.