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Above: The second cohort for the Hatun Warmi program in 2022.
Industry Partner Spotlight
This story was provided by Hudbay, a CIM Industry Partner, and appears in the November 2026 issue of CIM Magazine (view it in flip format here).
Upwardly mobile
How Hudbay’s Constancia mine developed women’s mining skills in rural Peru
As Hudbay approaches its centennial anniversary, the company looks back at a training program that helped it live up to its commitment to transform lives and ensure that communities benefit from its presence.
High in the Andes mountains of Peru’s Cusco region, Hudbay developed an employment program to help supplement its mobile equipment workforce at its Constancia copper mine. The program—called Hatun Warmi, which means “powerful woman” in the Quechua language indigenous to Peru and neighbouring parts of South America—was directed exclusively towards women from local communities who had no technical background or mining experience.
“This program helped us improve lives in communities closest to our mine and develop highly portable skills that graduates could apply across the country in mining or other industries that use mobile equipment,” said Augusto Montjoy Beteta, operational excellence manager at Constancia. “It was part of how we fulfil our company’s purpose around transforming lives and creating better futures for our communities.”
The program was designed by the local human resources, mine training and operations teams at Constancia and it can be activated whenever the company requires additional mobile equipment operators and the employment market cannot meet the demand. It launched in 2021 with 12 participants, followed by a second cohort of 12 in 2022. Trainees were selected based on their positive attitudes and motivation. To date, 21 participants have graduated from the program while 19 participants continue to work at the mine.
“This program helped us grow professionally and economically,” said Flora Monterola Alcca, a haul truck driver at Constancia and a program participant. “I’ve always been interested in mining as a career, but I never thought I would achieve my dream so quickly.”
All the trainees came from the mine’s neighbouring communities of Uchucarco, Chilloroya, Huaylla Huaylla, Casa Blanca, Urazana, Collana Alta and Merques, which are all located within 20 kilometres of the mine.
Taking the first step
After applying through Hudbay’s community relations teams, participants were selected by the human resources and operations teams. Following that, training took 18 months—12 months of technical training and six months of practical training.
Since a driver’s licence is required to operate heavy machinery at the mine, the first step for participants was to get their driver’s licence through a driving school contracted by the company.
Trainees then shadowed a field leader to see how equipment operates before operating equipment with that leader. The next phase involved working on the equipment with a field operator before operating the rig by themselves, followed by their final evaluation.
“The instructors were always willing to teach us and trust in our abilities, which made me want to give my best every day and believe in my capabilities,” said Patricia Diana Huamani Garay, an excavator operator at Constancia and a program participant.
Once technical training was completed, the practical component involved participants working on increasingly larger pieces of equipment as they were added to auxiliary rotation crews. Trainees used smaller mobile equipment that included small excavators, steamrollers and front loaders before advancing to haul trucks and larger excavators—the latter requiring virtual training simulators. The approach Hudbay took left a lasting impact on its participants.
“I would tell any woman considering a career in mining to believe in themselves and not let fear or stereotypes hold them back,” Huamani Garay said. “We women have the ability to succeed in mining and to make a significant contribution to this industry.”
