For 15 years, Norsk Hydro-owned Hydro Paragominas has actively contributed to the economic and social development of the municipality of Paragominas and intends to continue with its sustainable bauxite mining operations in the region. The Miltônia 5 (M5) project represents this objective: an investment of approximately BRL 590 million (just under US$114 million) in a new mining front that will begin in 2023, it says “reinforcing mining with respect and care for the environment.”
“This new mining front consists of the construction of an access road and infrastructure to support the operation. The work is already underway, with completion scheduled for the first quarter of 2023. Over the years, the M5 project will increasingly take on a greater proportion in Hydro’s production chain, representing the longevity we expect from these assets in Pará. It is an important contribution of mining to the development of Paragominas and the region,” says Anderson Martins, Director of Hydro Paragominas.
The opening of the new mining front is generating jobs in the infrastructure works stage, with an estimated 1,000 dedicated workers at the peak of implementation activities, maintaining the prioritisation of hiring local labour, products and services. In addition, the company says it “takes care of the environment and the works have all the necessary environmental licenses for the execution of the project.”
For Martins, M5 symbolises the future of Hydro in Pará: “This project brings all the values of Hydro, being developed during the pandemic and built by all areas of the company, from planning to execution. We will continue to follow the highest standard of quality and environmental conservation and safety.”
A methodology that will continue to contribute to sustainable mining on the new mining front is tailings dry backfill, in which Hydro is a pioneer and allows the inert tailings from bauxite mining to be returned to areas already opened and mined, instead of being deposited in separate, permanent storage areas. Thus, for the M5 project it will not be necessary to build new dams. In addition, the mining area rehabilitation program continues to operate, “always using the best practices to carry out reforestation.”
