07/19/2024 – 19:22
Vale’s plans to launch a billion-dollar mining project that has been stalled for years to expand its iron ore production have been the subject of controversy and concerns about the environmental impact in the Serra do Gandarela National Park region in Minas Gerais.
Environmentalists and researchers warn that implementing the project in one of the few areas of Minas Gerais still untouched by mining threatens biodiversity and could destroy an aquifer responsible for supplying water to more than two million people in Belo Horizonte and the Metropolitan Region.
In a statement, Vale denies any impact on water resources and states that the project would be implemented after the water collection point. “The company will monitor the watercourses and, if any changes are detected, the water will be replaced as required by law,” it says.
The region in question is located in the so-called Iron Quadrangle, an area of iron-rich mountains in the south-central part of the state. The area encompasses several municipalities, including Mariana, where a dam collapse in 2015 has caused persistent damage to this day.
Dubbed the Apollo Project, Vale’s plan for the last area of the region untouched by mining began in 2009. It was paused amidst tragedies involving dam collapses, and resumed after a decade with a new format, which the mining company claims is “more sustainable” because it does not generate waste and eliminates the use of dams.
Vale has held public hearings to explain and defend the new project, but the company is still awaiting an assessment by the authorities and is dependent on environmental licensing.
The new Apollo Project
The company’s investment in the Apollo Project amounts to 2 billion. The estimated amount of iron ore extracted annually after operations begin is 14 million tons.
There is also a forecast of generating around 2,600 temporary jobs at the peak of construction. After the start of operations, the estimate is 740 direct jobs between employees and outsourced workers, in addition to 2,100 indirect jobs. The total payroll would be R$138 million, with an additional R$151 million in taxes.
No dams
Vale restructured the project over a decade to eliminate the use of controversial and dangerous dams. “With the adoption of natural moisture iron ore processing, the need for new water for the new project has been reduced by 95%,” it said in a statement.
Instead of dams, a pile of waste would be used, a method already adopted in other regions of the state that accumulates dry waste.
Geologist Paulo Rodrigues, a researcher at the Center for the Development of Nuclear Technology (CDTN), states, however, that the measure could be even riskier, as the piles, unlike dams, are not adequately fenced.
“With the rains we are having, which are getting heavier and heavier due to climate change, the material from the batteries will spread everywhere,” says Rodrigues.
At least one such case was recorded in 2022, when a mountain of waste from the Vallourec mining company collapsed. The debris reached a dike and ended up scattered across the BR-040 highway, which was closed for two days near the municipality of Nova Lima.
The aquifer
However, the biggest concern is the potential damage caused by mining in the Cauê aquifer, which supplies the Rio das Velhas basin, points out geologist Paulo Rodrigues.
Aquifers are areas of underground water where water is stored and, when it emerges from the earth, creates the sources of rivers. These natural reservoirs are supplied by rainwater, which is brought from the oceans.
According to Rodrigues, Cauê has a unique configuration compared to others in the world: it is a vertical aquifer, made of iron and a stone called canga, porous materials, which allow water to enter without contamination.
There is plenty of gentle rain in the region – ideal for replenishing aquifers, as it takes longer to run off and is better absorbed – and a low content of minerals that undergo weathering, that is, that decompose and contaminate the water.
Rodrigues explains that, since the aquifer is made of iron, it is impossible to reconcile mining and maintenance of the reservoir. Removing the ore would mean removing the collection system itself. “When I destroy the aquifer and its water collection mechanism, it is irreversible,” he warns.
In a statement, Vale said it will monitor the course of the river water so that it can be replenished in case of any changes. The company said, however, that it would do so using its own aquifer water.
The park
Vale claims that mining will not destroy the mountain range and the aquifer because part of the region is protected by the Serra do Gandarela National Park (Parna), created in 2014. “Almost 50% of the park’s area, which represents 15 thousand hectares of the total 31,270 hectares of the conservation unit, belongs to the company and can be donated to ICMBio as environmental compensation for projects”, it adds.
However, the limit of the Apolo Project reported by the mining company is only about 80 meters from the beginning of the park at one point. Furthermore, the park limits are not in accordance with the recommendations of technicians from the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), responsible for the creation and management of federal conservation units.
“The main part of the mountain range was left out. The Serra do Gandarela Park was created without the Serra do Gandarela,” says João Madeira, a biologist who was the coordinator of Creation of Conservation and Diagnostic Units at ICMBio when the park project was drawn up.
On the following map, created by Paulo Rodrigues, it is possible to identify Serra do Gandarela:
Another map shows the boundaries of the Parna within the black line. The white line with red outlines is the planned location of the Vale mine.
In this other map, you can see the comparison of the excavated area with the city of Belo Horizonte:
According to Vale, the creation of the park reduced the Project area by 32% compared to the 2009 scope, from 2,000 hectares to 1,368 hectares. This represents 890 fewer football fields in the project area.
With most of the mountain range outside the Park, Rodrigues is certain that the aquifer’s water storage capacity will be destroyed. “There won’t be enough water left to feed a population that keeps growing,” he says.
Furthermore, there would be consequences for the park’s very purpose. “National ecological parks need landscapes, which is what we still have there,” says Madeira. “You’re going to lose that if you just have a huge mining pit full of giant trucks.”
The destruction of the Serra would also lead to the reduction of canga vegetation, a type of vegetation that is almost extinct in the country precisely because of the destruction of the canga layers by mining.
Paleoburrow
Another treasure of the region was left outside the boundaries of the Parna: a system of caves that served as a home for a prehistoric animal, probably a giant sloth.
Discovered in 2011, the caves made of canga cannot be destroyed because they are considered caves of maximum importance. Vale’s proposal is to leave a “protective perimeter” with a radius of 250 meters around them.
Biologist João Madeira says the proposal is still absurd. “They’re going to dig 250 meters around a 250-meter radius. There’s going to be a big column in the middle of nowhere. What’s the point of preserving that? Who’s going to be able to visit this cave?”
Population divided
In meetings held to discuss the Vale project with the community, there is usually a division. Some residents feel attracted by the proposal to create jobs, while others draw attention to the finiteness of resources and the impacts left behind.
“Mining jobs are temporary, because the ore doesn’t last forever,” says biologist and public school teacher Daniela Campolina, a resident of the Serra region. “And when people say: you have a cell phone, you have several iron objects, I respond: but you drink water. What activity exists without water? Nobody drinks ore.”
Civil society organizations such as the SOS Mata Atlântica Foundation have also been opposing the Apolo Project. “It is essential that both the federal and state governments pay attention to protecting this region and expanding the Serra do Gandarela Park,” says Malu Ribeiro, the institution’s director of public policies. Campaigns and petitions against the project’s progress have also been spreading on social media.
When contacted, the government of the state of Minas Gerais reported that two processes are currently underway at the State Environmental Foundation (Feam) relating to the Apolo Project.
“The aforementioned processes are being analyzed by the technical team and all compensation measures as well as the definition of continuous monitoring will be defined in the licensing report, which is currently being prepared,” the government concluded in a statement.
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