It is necessary to reconcile sustainable development with mining projects

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In each product sold, there is a percentage of minerals. House walls, water and sewage pipes, paints that color clothes, paper and furniture, vehicles, planes, packaging and even medicines. All of these goods contain minerals or are generated from them, making clear the importance of mining in the life of the planet. Around 80% of what is used today has the presence of minerals.


In Brazil, the sector is responsible for one third of the Gross Domestic Product. The various mines operating in the country produce 72 different mineral substances. And mining enjoys constitutional prerogatives, as can be seen when reading article 176 of the Federal Constitution. National legislation also provides that mining is an activity of public interest. Not only does the historic Decree-Law 3,365/41 address the topic, in its article 5, f, but also environmental standards such as the new Forest Code, in its article 3, VIII, b, and article 2, item I, c, and Conama Resolution 369/2006.

The option of the constituent and the infraconstitutional legislator to deal with mining, and especially to characterize it as being of national and public interest, is fully justified in the numerous social benefits related to the activity. Job creation, increased exports, increased sales of machinery and equipment produced in the country and circulation of wealth are some of them. There is also the collection of CFEM, collection of federal, state and municipal taxes.

All these benefits, however, have been inhibited by a supposed precaution to protect the environment and social groups. It seems urgent, therefore, to address the compatibility between mining and environmental protection, something that is already done by legally constituted mining companies and brings positive effects to the environment and affected societies.

Investments in regional infrastructure, the B2B Lead implementation of local socio-environmental projects and the development of conditions in the region that receives the project are the three main aspects to be reflected and considered in relation to environmental issues.

Within socio-environmental development, initiatives commonly adopted by mining companies include a commitment to prioritizing labor and local suppliers, local strategic partnerships, conscious occupation of the territory and valuing local protagonism. The aim is to enhance investments, mitigate and control negative impacts, maximize positive impacts, giving the local population a leading role in decision-making.

Regarding local protagonism, the State Secretariat for Environment and Sustainability (Semas) of Pará innovated by including in its environmental licensing process the dynamics of participatory workshops with communities influenced by a project.

In the context of mining, the existence of geological resources without due exploitation by large, regularly constituted mining companies tends to encourage the practice of one of the most socially and environmentally impactful behaviors, which is illegal mining. Unlike organized mining companies, national or international, illegal mining does not follow strict criteria required by environmental agencies.



What is observed is that, contrary to what some environmentalists would like to believe, mining activities carried out by serious companies that are attentive to issues of sustainability and the principle of socio-environmental function can corroborate the preservation of protected environmental areas, not the opposite.

Scientific studies have been carried out in recent decades to understand the real dimension of the positive and negative effects of mining. An example is the work carried out in 2008 by Dr. Maria Amélia Rodrigues da Silva Enriquez, from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), in which she questioned whether mining activity in Brazil would be compatible with the ecological dimension of development. To answer this question, surveys were carried out in 15 large mining municipalities, in eight Brazilian states (Amapá, Bahia, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, Santa Catarina and Sergipe).