Our Work
After working for over 20 years for large-scale multinational consulting companies such as Golder Associates and Amec (now Wood), Alvaro Paredes founded Toclla Consulting to directly service mining clients and collaborate with other consultants working in the field of mining and environment. Toclla Consulting provides strategic advantages to mining companies that require the services of a senior specialist for planning and executing environmental assessment and permitting processes and liaising with engineering teams developing preliminary economic assessments, pre-feasibility or feasibility studies. As an independent, Alvaro Paredes has the flexibility to tailor his role within a project development team and to use his skills where most needed in a cost-efficient manner. Toclla Consulting has the ability to operate fully in English and Spanish and understands the importance of cultural awareness in order to meaningfully engage with regulatory agencies and communities in the jurisdictions where projects are located.
Tocllaraju is a snow-covered peak at over 6000m in elevation, located in the Cordillera Blanca of the Peruvian Andes. It is while summiting Tocllaraju in 2018, that Alvaro Paredes felt inspired to found Toclla Consulting. The experience offered him clarity on the importance of process: climbing a mountain involves a great deal of respect for nature, diligent preparation, rigorous execution and the leadership of a person with experience. These are also the ingredients required to meaningfully engage in environmental and social assessment processes.
Alvaro’s decades of experience have taught him that the process is as important as the outcome; that projects gain value when all of the parties involved share their knowledge, interests and points of view in a respectful and inclusive manner. This is why elevating the process and establishing respectful relations are the central values upon which Toclla Consulting operates. In doing this, Toclla has the ability to integrate successfully into diverse environmental and engineering project teams in order to facilitate knowledge transfer, and support public participation, rigorous reporting and proper decision-making.
Toclla Consulting offers the following services:
Project Management
Environmental and social impact assessment processes require multidisciplinary and multicultural teams to accomplish environmental certification for mining projects. Leading these processes requires a proper combination of technical, communication and administration skills that Toclla Consulting can offer. Meeting business, budget and schedule objectives requires efficient communication between members of respective engineering and environmental teams; Toclla Consulting’s background makes it particularly suited to serve as a communication channel for a project development team.
Third Party Review
Mining companies have rigorous processes in advance of the decision to submit an application for a project’s environmental certification. Toclla Consulting can conduct reviews of environmental impact assessment reports during their different stages of development: from scoping through to baseline, impact assessment and mitigation planning.
Due Diligence
Toclla Consulting conducts environmental due diligence for international financial institutions to support project financing. Due diligence work for mining projects is conducted to satisfy international standards including:
IFC Environmental and Social Performance Standards
IFC Mining Sector Guidelines
Equator Principles
International Conventions and Treaties
Environmental Management Planning
Incorporating mitigation from a project’s conception is the best strategy to achieve environmental and social certification. Toclla Consulting supports site selection assessments that incorporate social, environmental, cultural and community concerns and expectations. It is also necessary to design mitigation and monitoring programs during the social and environmental assessment processes in order to reduce potential project impacts to acceptable levels. This is best done by combining both project-specific engineering and environmental knowledge.
Mine Closure Planning
Designing for closure is one of the principles that Toclla Consulting embraces. Designing a project to achieve long-term environmental and social objectives reduces the risk of high financial costs towards the end of the operational mine life and removes uncertainty for regulators responsible for granting environmental certifications. Most importantly, designing for closure will alleviate valid concerns from communities who will remain in the project area of influence long after the project reaches is post-closure phase.
Public Participation Support
Communicating project information in a culturally appropriate manner can be challenging, but is necessary in order to execute meaningful information disclosure and engagement with communities of interest. Toclla Consulting’s experience involves communication with various levels of stakeholders: from community members to community leadership, to local, regional and national authorities.
Permitting Support
Moving from environmental certification to environmental permitting is a complex practice that requires a clear understanding of the mitigation and monitoring commitments made by the mining project in order to achieve environmental certification. It is also common that modifications to the engineering studies used as the basis for impact assessment and mitigation planning trigger amendments to the environmental certificates and subsequent permits. Toclla Consulting can support mining projects going through the transition from environmental certification to permitting by integrating itself into the engineering and permitting teams.
