*Other businesses include waste rock and tailings from mining Nickel, Manganese, Coal and Copper and slag (Manganese alloy).
Business Case
Wood packaging reuse (Mina de Carajás)
At Carajás mine, located in the city of Parauapebas (PA), in the Amazon region, in partnership with a local company, Vale has developed a project to reuse wood
packaging waste in boilers for energy generation, to reduce final disposal in landfills. In 2019, 1,270 tons of wood waste was destined for reuse, and in 2020, it was 505 tons, with a decrease due to logistics and Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
Used oil regeneration (Carajás Mine)
Vale has implemented a used refrigeration oil regeneration unit at its Carajás Waste Materials Management Center (CMD). The process consists of a previous analysis of the oils at the generating source and the subsequent collection, filtering, regeneration, and oils return for use by the maintenance workshops. In 2019, approximately 970,000 liters have already been regenerated and 940,000 liters in 2020, showing the project's great success, since it represented a significant reduction in the purchase of new oils by the operational unit's maintenance areas.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) destination
Vale has developed actions to speed up the environmentally appropriate destination of waste containing polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs, in all its operational units. PCBs are considered environmental contaminants, impacting health and ecosystems.
Based on the company's international commitments and safety and environment values, a process was established to identify potential sources of PCB-contaminated oils at Vale's operations units. The demands were consolidated and a gradual final destination process was established, aligning the maintenance cycles of the electric equipments with the pursuit of anticipating the PCB destination goals.
These actions also aim to anticipate the elimination of PCB use, a goal of the Stockholm Convention, which is foreseen by 2025, besides ensuring their environmentally adequate final disposal by 2028. By 2020, more than 200 tons of PCB waste was disposed of and more than 12,000 liters of transformer equipament oils were regenerated and classified as uncontaminated.
Haul trucks tire recycling
Vale sends haul trucks tires scrap generated by its operations in Pará and Minas Gerais, Brazil, to recycling companies. Recycling these tires is a big challenge due to their size - they can measure over than 4 meters in diameter - and also due to the resistance of the internal steel mesh, which makes them very difficult to handle and cut for recycling. Approximately 9,000 tons of tires are recycled per year.
Utilization of packaging wood (Cooperative development in São Luis/MA)
At Ponta da Madeira port terminal, Vale has developed a project to support the implementation and development of the Vila Maranhão Labor, Collection and Waste Recovery Cooperative (CoopVila). The social project is developed with the local residents of Vila Maranhão, neighboring Vale's operations in São Luís (MA). In 2019, 1,504 tons of wood waste were destined, and in 2020, 1,140 tons were destined.
The project is a great example of the combined action of the development of a local cooperative and the use of packaging wood waste to manufacture wooden pieces and furniture, reducing the final disposal to landfills and generating income for the local community.
Fostering the circular economy
In November 2020, Vale inaugurated the Pico Block Factory, the first pilot plant for civil construction products whose main raw material is tailings from mining activities. Located at Pico Mine in the municipality of Itabirito, Minas Gerais, the plant will promote a circular economy in the iron ore processing operations.
After the pilot phase period, the expectation is that, each year, approximately 30 thousand tons of waste will no longer be disposed in dams or piles to be transformed iinto 3.8 million pre-molded products of wide application in the construction industry, such as interlocked floors, structural concrete blocks, and sealing blocks, among others.
Vale has been conducting tailings application
studies since 2014. The company will invest about R$ 25 millions in research and technological development (R&D) in the first two years of the Pico Blocks Factory, which will have the technical cooperation of the Federal Center for Technological Education of Minas Gerais (CEFET-MG). Ten researchers from the institution will work in research during this period, including professors, laboratory technicians, and graduate, post-graduate, and technical course students.
Vale plans to replicate the block factory in other units in Minas Gerais, after the R&D phase at Mina do Pico. The company also maintains partnerships with more than 30 organizations, including universities, research centers and Brazilian and international companies, to develop solutions for the reuse of mining waste in different sectors of industry.
