Yanacocha, in the northern Andes near Cajamarca, is a gold mine that Newmont has owned outright since it bought out its partners in 2022. This page is for the HSE, process and telecoms teams who need to know where an explosion proof mobile phone is relevant at Yanacocha in Peru, which is a narrower question than at a copper concentrator, and what a supplier should be ready to document. The IS-04Z1 is designed around intrinsic safety rather than a flameproof enclosure.
Launching Q4 2026 · certification and vendor documentation in progress
Gold changes the hazard map. Yanacocha has operated since 1993 as a heap-leach operation, with ore stacked on leach pads, gold-bearing solution recovered through process plants and gold finished in a refinery. Newmont acquired Buenaventura's 43.65 per cent interest and then Sumitomo's remaining 5 per cent, which made it sole owner; it has described a sulphides project, with the Yanacocha Verde and Chaquicocha deposits, intended to extend operations towards 2040 and produce gold, copper and silver. That plan would add a conventional concentrating circuit to a site that was built on leaching. Most of what a person walks past at Yanacocha is therefore not a combustible-dust area. The areas to examine are reagent and fuel storage, carbon regeneration and refinery furnaces with their fuel supplies, and any new sulphide plant. Cyanide is a toxic-gas control problem, not an explosive-atmosphere one, and a handset's Ex marking does not answer it.
Cajamarca sits at high altitude in the northern highlands, with frequent rain and cold. The environmental problem is moisture and cold more than dust. The IS-04Z1 is designed for Zone 1 and Zone 21 and has IP68 sealing; certification is in progress and no certificate has yet been issued.
The northern highlands are wetter than the southern desert mines, and heap-leach areas are wet by design. IP68 sealing is relevant to rain, spray and dropped-in-a-puddle events, though leach solution contact should be treated as a chemical exposure to avoid.
Because much of the site is not a gas or dust zone, an Ex handset is needed in a smaller number of places. Procurement should ask where those places are and how many people work in them before sizing any roll-out.
Blasting areas have their own restrictions on transmitting devices. A managed handset lets the operator keep a policy for where radios and phones may be switched on, but the blasting rules come first.
Yanacocha has operated under close public and regulatory attention for decades, including the Conga dispute. A complete, verifiable certificate trail matters more than speed.
A mine running since 1993 has settled routines. New equipment tends to arrive through a formal trial, so plan evaluation as a documented exercise with defined success criteria.
Where fuel-fired furnaces and gas or liquid supply lines are present, operators need to log checks and report defects. A certified handset would allow that within the relevant zones, once certification exists.
Operators move between tanks, columns and pumps recording readings and photographing leaks. A rugged, enrolled handset carries the checklist and the contact list.
New plant brings contractors and temporary hazardous areas. A managed handset with permits and punch lists helps one register cover all the crews.
In some areas, yes, such as fuel and reagent storage and fuel-fired furnaces. Much of a leach operation is open-air and not classified, so the case is narrower than at a concentrator. The operator's classification study defines the boundary.
No. Cyanide is a toxic-gas and chemical control problem, handled by gas detection and procedures. An Ex-rated handset does not protect against it, and no device claim here should be read that way.
Newmont announced in 2022 that it had acquired the remaining interests from Buenaventura and Sumitomo, making it the sole owner and operator. Any later change should be checked against Newmont's own filings.
Cajamarca has a wetter, cooler highland climate than the southern copper belt. Sealing and battery performance in cold and wet conditions are the points to test in any trial.
Tell us the site, the zone and gas group, and roughly how many handsets. The SAMS team replies by email with the datasheet and the certification schedule for Peru. The IS-04Z1 is pre-launch and certification is in progress, so there is no list price yet; indicative pricing is issued in writing against a stated quantity and site.
Tell us the zone, gas group and operator. We will send the datasheet and the certification schedule for your market.
