MINING INNOVATION - WHAT IS NEXA DOING TO IMPROVE THE WAY OF MINING ITS RESOURCES
| Jurisdiction | Derecho Internacional |
MINING INNOVATION - WHAT IS NEXA DOING TO IMPROVE THE WAY OF MINING ITS RESOURCES
Nexa Resources
Brasilia
[Page 8B-1]
GUILHERME SIMÕES FERREIRA: Lawyer, graduated in 1995 (UDF), with an MBA in Business Management from the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), 16 years of experience in the mining sector, currently holding the position of General Legal Manager at Nexa Resources in Brasilia, Board Member of the Brazilian Mining Association (IBRAM), coordinator of the Legal committee of IBRAM and director of the Brazilian Association of Mineral Exploration Companies (ABPM).
One of the most important dictionaries of the Portuguese language brings the meaning of the word "innovate" as "to produce or to make something new; introduce news on; renew, restore."2 It was in this spirit that, from the beginning of this decade, Nexa Resources (former Votorantim Metais) started a series of initiatives that sought to bring a new look, a new way of doing mining. The company was looking for new ways to produce concentrates, use of water, treatment of tailings, new technologies that could contribute to a greater sustainability of the activity.
The company started its mining business in 1956, in Brazil, with the founding of the Companhia Mineira de Metais (CMM), a Votorantim's Group company, to investigate zinc beds in Vazante (State of Minas Gerais - MG), which would provide the first shipment of ore to the recently opened Três Marias (MG) metallurgical plant. In 1969, the Três Marias (MG) metallurgical plant began to produce electrolytic zinc and the company began an open-pit mining of zinc silicate ore in Vazante (MG). In 1988, Votorantim, which was already one of the shareholders, assumed complete control of Mineradora Morro Agudo, in Paracatu (MG), which produced concentrated zinc sulfate. In 1996, Votorantim Metais is established to be responsible for mining and metallurgical dealings, following a complete overhaul of the management model of the Votorantim Group.
From 2004 to 2016, Votorantim Metais established a strategy of growing in Latin America, first with the acquisition of a zinc metallurgical plant in Cajamarquilla, Peru, and after with the acquisition of Compañia Minera Milpo, another Peruvian company. In 2017, with an IPO in New York and also Toronto, Votorantim Metais and Milpo were merged to be one company, named Nexa Resources (NEXA).
[Page 8B-2]
1 - Zero Waste Program
In recent years, we have been working on research and development of technologies to reduce waste generation, or to enable its reinsertion into production chains. The NEXA Morro Agudo site, located in Paracatu (MG), was one of Brazil's pioneer in eliminating waste production. The Site invests in process efficiency, using new technology and generating economic value based on developing solutions to transform tailings into raw materials or inputs for other products. One of the main projects in this area is an agricultural lime powder, also known as Zincal200, based on technology created to reprocess the tailings produced in zinc beneficiation process, which used to be dumped in dams. The product neutralizes soil acidity and increases productivity, thanks to the presence of zinc in the formula. The effectiveness of the product has been proved by the University of Lavras/MG (UFLA) and by the Agronomic Institute of Campinas/SP (IAC). Nowadays, around 521 thousand tons of Zincal200 are produced annually and its sales represent around R$ 10 million of revenue for NEXA.
However, the biggest win for Zincal200 is the fact that it eliminated the need to construct new dams, benefitting the company and the environment. The NEXA Morro Agudo site, for example, has managed to eliminate tailing generation.
Other actions that resulted in reduced consumption of natural resources and costs, as well as a lower level of environmental impacts associated with waste disposal, were: adding a flotation cell for the separation of silver and lead present in the ore at the mine in Vazante. In 2017, our operations generated a total of 16.8 million tons of mineral and metallurgical wastes, 33% non-hazardous and 67% hazardous -- a 7% overall reduction compared to 2016's result (18.1 million tons).3
2 - Mining Lab
In November 2016, NEXA launched a support program for entrepreneurs known as Mining Lab.4 The aim was to encourage startups and develop innovations that could be applied to the mining and metallurgical industry. The first cycle of the program set challenges for innovation in the areas of renewable energy and nanotechnology. As regards energy, the mining company sought startups that could develop technology to replace the traditional mining energy sources (fossil fuels and electricity, for example) with more economic alternatives with environmental gains, such as biomass, biogas, solar energy, less polluting and renewable oils, more efficient compressed air and
[Page 8B-3]
pumping systems, or even new, unmapped solutions. Within the nanotechnology branch, the search was on for companies that could develop solutions using this technology in applications such as recovery of particles during flotation and hydrometallurgy processes, solutions for corrosion, applications of metal oxides, treatment and recovery of wastewater and new product development. The Mining Lab program was a pioneering and daring initiative to link the world of mining and smelter to that of B2B startups.
There were 115 projects signed up for the first stage, of which...
To continue reading
Request your trial