In partnership with Xinca, PSJ Cobre Mendocino is driving in Uspallata the women’s program “Textiles with Purpose” as part of its Sustainability Plan. The initiative, named by its own participants “PAZANDINO, Mountain Threads”, is a community program for sustainable textile development with a strong gender, environmental, and territorial focus.
PSJ Cobre Mendocino, together with Xinca —an Argentine company recognized for its leadership in circular innovation, inclusion, and social transformation— is promoting in Uspallata a community textile program that gave birth to “PAZANDINO, Mountain Threads”, the name chosen by the women themselves. The official launch took place this Thursday during the “Women in Networks” event, where PSJ presented its mining project and highlighted the importance of incorporating a gender perspective in technological and industrial spaces.
The main objective is to generate genuine local employment for women in Uspallata through the production of workwear, reusable textile products, and locally inspired pieces. All of these are made using recycled and recovered materials, under Xinca’s guiding principle: “do with what you have, do it together, and do it well.”
The training is led by Miriam Vega, an industrial-level textile trainer and member of Xinca’s team. Miriam is known for taking her technical knowledge into community spaces where training becomes a tool for inclusion and opportunity. Her career reflects commitment and an unwavering conviction to support community-based productive processes. “Here in Uspallata, I am training this group of women with the idea that they will be able to make the workwear for all the miners who will join PSJ. This is an opportunity for them to learn to manufacture the clothing, become the suppliers themselves, and secure a source of income,” explained Miriam.
On the other hand, Beatriz Rojas —born and raised in Uspallata, mother of eight children and grandmother of five— describes herself as a woman of the land and expressed that she sees in the textile workshop a personal opportunity for growth and a space to pass on her knowledge to other women in Uspallata. “My future is to learn so that one day I can have my own workshop and teach others who need to learn. I am proud of the group’s teamwork, and I want my town to move forward, because in Uspallata there is no work. My dream is to move ahead and give my children the example that I was able to achieve it,” said Beatriz.
Also sharing her perspective was Claudia Coz, a leader of the textile workshop and a gastronomy entrepreneur. Claudia, also born and raised in Uspallata, is a mother, grandmother, and a member of the Huarpe community. Today, she participates in the textile workshop with the goal of strengthening her economic independence and creating a space for learning and personal development with other women. “This, as a woman and as a person, gives us value, because in our town we never had the opportunity for a course like this. Personally, I am grateful because it helps me and will continue helping me in the future to have a better economy. And on the human side, it also raises self-esteem, because being able to learn and move forward with something new is very valuable. We thank PSJ and the Pazandino workshop for this: I am proud to belong to Pazandino,” shared Claudia.
