A mining project that aims to extract 31 million tons of iron ore over 13 years in an area of 102 hectares in Serra do Curral, in Minas Gerais, had its environmental license approved last Saturday morning (30) by the state government. .
The Serra do Taquaril Mining Complex, owned by Taquaril Mineração SA (Tamisa), is located in the municipality of Nova Lima, on the border with the cities of Belo Horizonte and Sabará. The Public Ministry and the city hall of the capital of Minas Gerais have filed lawsuits to try to reverse the decision.
The approval took place around 3 am after a meeting of Copam (State Environmental Policy Council), which lasted about 18 hours. Eight councilors voted in favor of the project and four were against it. The commission is made up of representatives of public authorities and civil society entities.
Led by the Tira o Pé da Minha Serra movement, environmentalists and other representatives of civil society have been demonstrating in recent days against the release of the project, with acts in the streets and an attempt to raise awareness among councilors. The group is preparing a manifesto of intellectuals and cultural professionals who already have the support of names such as Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque.
“We are seeing that it is not just a local heritage, it is a national heritage and that there are many people willing to defend it”, says Roberto Andrés, who is part of the group.
The movement points out that the project foresees the destruction of a green area of 100 hectares, which would cause impacts on the flora and fauna of the region.
“The mountains shelter an ecosystem, endangered species, the flora and fauna of the cerrado. There are a number of springs around the Serra do Curral, it is a water spillway. We are in a moment of water crisis, the springs there should be preserved”, says Andrés, who is an urban planner and professor at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais).
The Environmental Impact Study (EIA) carried out by Thames for the licensing process points out that the project will twice cross a Copasa pipeline (Companhia Mineira de Água e Esgoto), responsible for supplying Belo Horizonte and the metropolitan region. Therefore, the city hall of the capital filed a lawsuit against the licensing this Tuesday (3).
The city government also questions the fact that the licensing process only considered the municipality of Nova Lima, without taking into account the effects on Belo Horizonte and Sabará, such as noise, air pollution and possible damage caused by explosions in the mining process. . Mention was also made of the development’s proximity to Hospital da Baleia and Parque das Mangabeiras, both in the capital.
The Public Ministry of Minas Gerais also questioned the regularity of the process. According to the agency, as there is a process of listing in progress at Iepha (State Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage), the property would be protected until the completion of the process.
Serra do Curral is already listed at the municipal level in Belo Horizonte, and the peaks of the mountain are listed at the federal level by Iphan (Institute of National Historic and Artistic Heritage). The process of state listing, in progress, aims to guarantee the integral protection of the region.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office also filed a lawsuit to suspend the project’s declaration of compliance with municipal legislation granted by the city of Nova Lima. According to the agency, the project would be installed in an area in which the city’s Master Plan authorizes only “environmental use”, and not “mining use”.
According to the city of Nova Lima, the company’s plans are in accordance with municipal rules. She also stated that the environmental licensing process is the responsibility of the state government.
Environmentalists also criticize the relationship of the current mayor of the city with the mining sector, since João Marcelo Dieguez Pereira (Citizenship) worked at Vale between 2013 and 2015.
The Nova Lima City Hall said that mining is one of the economic pillars of the municipality and that the relationship with any company installed in the city is strictly institutional. “Therefore, there is no personal connection of the mayor with this or any sector of the economy”, said the administration.
Through a note, the government of Minas Gerais stated that “the licensing processes are formalized with extensive technical studies that support the decision of the councilors of the Chamber of Mining Activities (CMI) of the State Council for Environmental Policy (Copam)”.
“The company responsible for the project will have to comply with environmental and forestry compensations imposed by legislation, which include the preservation and/or recovery of about 4 times the total suppressed area, in addition to investing 0.5% of the project’s total investment value in environmental actions”, says the note.
All representatives of state government secretariats on the council were in favor of licensing mining in Serra do Curral.
Representatives of the Minas Gerais Economic Development Company (Codemig), the National Mining Agency (ANM), the Minas Gerais Extractive Industry Workers Union (Sindiextra), Fiemg (Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais) were also in favour. Gerais) and the Minas Gerais Society of Engineers (SME).
The representatives of Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), the Relictus Foundation, the Promutuca Association and the Brazilian Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering (ABES) voted against the authorization of mining.
The Thames mining company was contacted, but did not return until the report was published.
