Vale’s CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry), from the Legislative Assembly of Pará, visited the Research Center for Responsible Mining at USP (NAP.Mineração) to strengthen relations between the government sphere and research institutions linked to issues minerals. “This CPI is a discussion between society, the Legislative Power of Pará and Vale, seeking a vision of the future”, summarizes Giorgio de Tomi, professor at USP’s Polytechnic School and director of NAP.Mineração.
One of the central points of the commission is the relationship of coexistence between large mining companies, such as Vale, and small ones. “They [CPI members] came to visit our laboratory to discuss this issue and see what tools we could contribute to building the future”, explains Tomi. The success of small scale mining in the world is always associated with systems of coexistence with giants in the field. “It unites the good practices of large mining with the need for small mining to adhere to these good practices”, he justifies. With the need for mineral goods from small-sized deposits, Brazil has advanced in the agenda, following the cases of Africa and South America, which received funding from the World Bank, according to the interviewee.
Sustainability and responsibility
The humanitarian and health crisis in Terra Yanomami received the attention of the Brazilian press last week due to the malnutrition and illnesses of the nearly 30,000 indigenous people who inhabit the region. These urgent issues are directly associated with the mining industry on the land owned by the Yanomami, according to the professor: “It’s a situation of illegal gold operations”, he says.
Responsible mining has two important aspects: the supply of raw materials needed for the energy transition and sustainable development. “There is the whole question of managing and controlling the environmental impacts that are common in mining and need to be mitigated”, he comments. Tomi adds: “It [responsible mining] brings sustainable development to remote regions where other options for heating the economy do not reach”.
NAP.Mining
NAP.Mineração (Research Center for Responsible Mining at the University of São Paulo) aims to “transform mining and artisanal mining areas into small responsible mining operations,” according to its website. The core approach integrates mineral exploration, mining, mineral processing, governance and sustainability activities in the area of small scale mining.
Developed by NAP.Mineração, the Responsible Gold Purchase Platform (PCRO) is a free digital environment with the purpose of online consultation on the compliance of the transaction of a certain purchase of ore, in ecologically responsible production criteria. “We focus on the origin of the gold that is being traded and the system indicates a degree of compliance using public data”, elaborates the professor. In addition to environmental and mineral licensing, other parameters are taken into account: “Fiscal, tax and operational, which, available in the public system, allow the system to assess good extraction and production practices”, he concludes.
