General information
PARÁ
Governor: Ana Júlia Carepa – PT
Territorial area: 2nd largest state in Brazil, with an area of 1,248,042 Km²
Number of municipalities: 143
Population: 7,065,573
Population density per Km²: 5.66 inhabitants
Gross Domestic Product: R$ 44.376 billion
GDP per head: R$ 4,992.00 (data from 2004, according to Sepof and the IBGE)
IFDM (Firjan Index of Municipal Development): 24th among Brazilian states – 0.5899
(Firjan data, 2006). Pará is ahead of only Piauí, Maranhão and Alagoas
HDI: 16th in Brazil – 0.723 (Source: UNDP – United Nations Development Program)
The people of Para: among its almost 7.1 million inhabitants are Indians, blacks, whites, river-bank dwellers and Asians. They are spread between rural areas (34%) and urban areas (66%).
A large number of Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Japanese immigrants went into forming the people of Pará, in addition to the many African and Indian influences that exist. There are 31 different Indian tribes in the state, totaling some 27,000 people, who live in 298 villages, according to data from the National Foundation of the Indian
(FUNAI).
Economy: the economy of Pará is based on mining (iron, bauxite, manganese, limestone, gold and tin), wood, agriculture, livestock farming, industry and tourism.
The environment: Pará has an incalculable variety of fauna and flora and an unparalleled scientific and economic potential. The state is located in the Eastern Amazon and in the world’s largest corridor of protected forests, which extends over more than 717,000 km² (almost 71 million hectares) divided into fully protected areas, those for sustainable use and indigenous land, according to data from the Department of the Environment. In all, the reserves cover more than 57% of the state’s territory. In fact, many animal and vegetable species that are to be found in these areas are unknown to science.
PARA’S WESTERN REGION
The western region of Pará has 30 municipalities and covers an area of 780,000 km2, corresponding to 62% of the state’s territory. In this region are municipalities like
Juruti, Santarém, Altamira, Oriximiná, Óbidos, Terra Santa, Faro, Monte
Alegre, Alenquer, Belterra, Curuá, Itaituba and Prainha.
Context: the west of Pará is a region, the forest cover of which is very rich in biodiversity and valuable hardwood, but with very little or no territorial organization. Because of this the region ended up coming under close scrutiny because of its agrarian conflicts, economic projects, such as mining and soybean farming, and infrastructure, such as the conclusion of the BR-163 highway. There is also controversy over the construction of hydroelectric power stations on the Xingu River, like the Belo Monte power station, which will have capacity to generate 11,000l megawatts of electricity. Used mainly for supplying the southeast and the northeast, Belo Monte would today represent an increase of almost 20% in Brazil’s installed capacity.
JURUTI
Mayor: Henrique Costa – PT (Manoel Henrique Gomes da Costa) // Slogan: “Improving people’s lives”.
Population: 35,155 (Town administration website / IBGE 2008)
Territorial area: 8,304 Km²
Demographic density: 4.5 inhabitants/Km²
Distance from the capital, Belém: 848 Km
GDP per head: R$2,331.00
IFDM (Firjan Municipal Development Index): 0.5520 = 32nd in Pará // 3545th in Brazil
(Firjan data, 2006).
HDI: 0.588 in 1991 // 0.630 in 2000 = 116th in Pará // 4,126th in Brazil (Source: UNDP - United Nations Development Program)
Poverty rate: 60%
How to get there: it takes 12 hours to reach Juruti from Santarém by river, 30 minutes by plane or 4 hours by bus. From Belem it takes 4 days by boat and 1 hour by plane.
Location: far west of Pará, on the right bank of the Amazon River.
Limits: to the north, Oriximiná and Óbidos; to the east, Óbidos and Santarém; to the south,
Aveiro; and the west the State of Amazonas and Faro.
History: the current municipality of Juruti is located in the physiographic zone of the Lower Amazonas. According to historian, Domingos Álvares Ferreira Pena, it was formally a Mundurucus Indian village that was founded in 1818 and came under the direction of a missionary who had parochial powers.
The influence of the residents and the development of agricultural and livestock farming industries meant that in 1883, the community was raised to the status of municipality, a process that was made official in 1885. However, in 1900 its status was abolished and its territory became annexed to the municipalities of Faro and Óbidos. Thirteen years after, it reacquired its previous status and it was reinstalled as a municipality in 1914. It also came under direct administration by the State of Pará in 1930, when it was once again suspended. The political and administrative emancipation of Juruti occurred, once and for all, in 1938.
Its name is of Tupi origin and means a firm or extended neck, an allusion to the way the dove of this name looks when it is singing.
Mayor of Juruti: Manoel Henrique Gomes Costa (PT) was 50 years old on July 15. He has dedicated 15 of these years to public life. In 1995 he became a Worker’s Party member and in 1997 he was the most highly voted councilor in
Juruti. In 2005 he was elected mayor of Juruti. He is considered to be the “mayor of culture”, due to his support for the Juruti Indian Tribal Festival (source: town administration official website).
Source: websites of the Para State government, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics
(IBGE), the Juruti Town Administration and the UNDP.
Questions & Answers Juruti Mine
KEY MESSAGES
Juruti Mine: innovative project in sustainable mining
• a) Sustainability tripod: milestone in the introduction of projects in
the Amazon.
• b) Achievements, progress and triumphs of socio-environmental projects.
• c) Investment in local vocational callings.
• d) Activities developed by institutional partners
Juruti Mine: a community-integrated project
• a) Alcoa and its employees, as residents in the town, are part of the
community.
• b) Alcoa’s investments in building works and services that are of public
interest (Positive Agenda, MCC, Socó I).
• c) Actions for monitoring and controlling socio-environmental impacts.
• d) Voluntary activities, with community participation.
Juruti Mine: one of Alcoa’s investments in Brazil
• In Brazil, Alcoa is investing US$ 4.5 billion to expand its operations
and leverage more than US$ 3.5 billion in investments from its partners.
• Aluminum production in Brazil is the lever for sustainable development: the
country has clean and renewable energy sources and major bauxite reserves.
• Alcoa’s undertakings generate employment and help with the country’s
development, even in times of crisis.
• The power generation projects benefit not only Alcoa’s own business, but
the population as a whole.
What is the structure of the Juruti Mine?
The project was divided into four large structures: the mining area, from
which the bauxite is extracted; the beneficiation plant, where the ore is
initially prepared for transportation; a railroad, which is approximately 55 km
long, and a port terminal. The project also uses a state highway, which has been
improved to facilitate the transport of both cargo and people between Juruti and
beneficiation area.
How much is being invested in the project?
The estimated cost of the mining operation installations, which includes the
beneficiation unit, the railroad and the port, is R$ 3 billion.
When and how did Alcoa obtain bauxite mining rights in the region?
Alcoa obtained the right to mine bauxite in the Juruti region when it took
over Reynolds Metals Company (RMC) in 1999, which had already carried out the
first surveys in the 1980s and 1990s to check the potential of the deposits. The
potential of the ore reserves in Pará has been known about for many
years.
What is the size of the bauxite reserve found in Juruti?
Current estimates indicate some 700 million tons. This project will
contribute towards consolidating Brazil’s position as the leader in Latin
America on the world’s bauxite producer stage.
What is the bauxite production capacity?
The initial production capacity is 2.6 million tons of bauxite a year, but
this may be expanded in the future. With is currently known of the local
geology, the mineral reserves in the Juruti region would indicate a working life
for the mine of at least 50 years.
How does the Juruti deposit compare with other regions?
Most of the bauxite deposits in the world are located in tropical and
sub-tropical regions. Australia has 30% of the world’s reserves of bauxite,
followed by Brazil. With these deposits in Juruti, new investments are being
channeled into the state. By the end of the decade it is estimated that the
annual volume of bauxite production in the state will reach 30 million tons,
almost double the initial capacity.
Other countries have shown to be highly attractive for bauxite mining. Guinea,
for example, which has enormous, but still only partially explored reserves, has
already attracted investments from Alcoa itself and from Russia. The Chinese are
also studying the reserves in that particular country.
Is bauxite harmful to health?
So far there have been no known cases reported of an allergy to bauxite. Raw
bauxite ore is a mixture of clay that is rich in aluminum oxide and hydroxide.
It is the third most common mineral in the earth’s crust. None of the minerals
of which it is composed (gibbsite, hematite, kaolinite and small amounts of
noselite, quartz and anatase) have the potential to be a threat to public
health.
What is the bauxite mining and beneficiation process like?
Generally speaking, bauxite is extracted by open-cast strip mining, after
removal of the overburden. The process contains the following stages: removal of
the vegetation cover and cleaning up of the area; storage of the organic topsoil
(for reuse in subsequently rehabilitating the area); removal of the overburden;
prior restructuring of the ore; excavation and loading; transportation of the
ore; crushing, to reduce size; washing of the ore and transportation from the
plant to the dispatch location (port); storing and loading the ship. This
process involves no chemical transformation of the ore whatsoever, in other
words, the concentrate contains the same minerals in its composition (aluminum
hydroxide, aluminum silicates, silica etc.) as are found in the subsoil.
Is bauxite mining responsible for the deforestation of large areas?
Bauxite mining is carried out in various regions in the world. Every year
the activity uses some 500 km² of land, worldwide. In addition to being small
compared with other economic activities that use land, it must be borne in mind
that bauxite mining requires only temporary use of the land; after it has been
rehabilitated, i.e. reforested, the area is returned to society. In Juruti
things will be no different.
How will the mined-out areas be recovered?
Bauxite mining is planned in such a way as to make the activity compatible
with rehabilitation of the environment. The vegetation cover is removed in such
a way that, once the bauxite has been extracted, the same topsoil is replaced.
The soil is uniformly distributed to create the conditions necessary for
restoring biological activity and the natural cycle of nutrients in the
mined-out area. The flora reestablishes itself in the ecosystem and is monitored
by the company so tat it is reconstituted in a way that is closest to its
natural state.
How many years will it take for the reforested areas to return to their
original condition?
Reforestation of the areas should take place at the same time as the mining
fronts advance. It is estimated that, at most, two years after the end of the
operation the areas occupied by the project will have been replanted.
What is the destination of the bauxite mined in Juruti?
Initially, the bauxite produced at the project will be sent to the refinery
at the Maranhão Aluminum Consortium (ALUMAR) in São Luís ( MA), which is
expanding.
Will the movement of ships on the river have an environmental impact?
No. There are similar operations in the State of Pará that have never
resulted in environmental accidents from the transportation of bauxite by ship.
Even so, specific emergency plans have been prepared and are included in the
port’s environmental emergency control program.
Questions & Answers
Regional issues
Does Alcoa intend to install a refinery in Juruti?
It is in the interests of Pará to add economic value to its natural resources. A refinery for transforming bauxite into alumina is an additional step in the aluminum value chain, the feasibility of which is being evaluated by Alcoa.
Does Alcoa in tend to install a smelter unit in Juruti?
From the logistics and economic points of view the Juruti region is not suitable for the installation of a smelter unit because of the distance from existing or potential sources of energy. This possibility might only be considered if there were to be future availability of a significant amount of energy and major transmission lines in suitable conditions for making an undertaking of this size in the region feasible.
Is the project of benefit to local suppliers?
Alcoa promotes partnerships in professional training and qualification projects so that local suppliers, like cleaning, security and transport service providers can be included in the business chain of the Juruti unit. In a partnership with the Suppliers Development Program (PDF), of the Federation of Industries of the State of Pará
(Feipa) and the Trade and Business Association of Juruti (ACEJ), five business meetings have already been held, which brought together regional businesspeople to discuss the market situation vis-à-vis the introduction and operation of the Juruti Mine.
Business management course have also been held in a partnership with the Hope of Higher Education Institute
(IESPES), which is providing professionals from Juruti with the qualifications they need for managing their own companies in a competitive and sustainable way, based on business plans that are prepared during the course itself.
Since the project started being set up in 2006 R$ 441 million have already been invested in buying from suppliers from the State of Pará, of which 16.4% come from Santarém and 27.6% are from
Juruti, where most of the purchases are centered. Most of these investments (R$154 million) are earmarked for indirect sectors, such as for carrying out the work of the Positive Agenda in
Juruti, mining materials, general services and the project’s health, security and environment areas.
Has there been any specific training for suppliers to the operational area?
The last business meeting that was held in May, 2009 dealt specifically with the new supply profile for the operations phase of the Mine. The contracts are now continuous, with the possibility of them being renewed, depending on the Company’s evaluation.
Furthermore, DVF Consultoria was invited by Alcoa to train local suppliers in order for them to become independent of the project. In 2008 300 people registered for the talks and courses that were held, which included technical training, such as controlling cash, issuing invoices, financing lines, and other themes that prepared the business people for meeting the basic requirements they must fulfill to be suppliers to the Juruti Mine and to manage their companies in an independent way.
How many jobs have been generated by the project?
When construction work was at its peak the Juruti Mine employed some 9,500 people. During the three year set-up phase on average 80% of those working on the project were from Para and 30% were from Juruti itself.
Does Alcoa own land in Juruti?
Currently, Alcoa owns just 5.86 km2 of land in the region where the Capiranga base-camp is located. There is no bauxite in this area. To extract the ore the company does not need to own any of the areas for which it has survey licenses. Alcoa only owns those places where the beneficiation industrial unit and the port are located, as well as the rights-of-way and security areas along the length of the railroad. The process for acquiring areas is practically concluded. In the mining phase land is not purchased; only royalties are paid to the owners of the mined areas.
Have the water sources that supply the Juruti River, the Jará Lake and the Fifi Creek been polluted by Alcoa’s activities?
The water sources have not been polluted. Soil conservation and water course protection measures have been taken in the Juruti Mine. The PCAs for monitoring water and soil protect the water sources with physical barriers and drainage.
In addition, the final effluent is of excellent quality and fully in line with the parameters established by Resolution 357/05 of the National Council of the Environment
(CONAMA).
The treatment process for the sanitary waste from the project area is biological, comprising an aerated pond for complete mixture, followed by settlement ponds, a wetland, a disinfection box and an infiltration pond. This is a simple, easily operated and low cost system. Macrophytes are planted in it, which guarantee that nutrients are recycled, organic material is removed and the pathogenic organisms in the waste-water are reduced.
Everyday at the Juruti Mine the formation of algae is monitored and the pond is cleaned, removing the leaves and small branches, in addition to putting macrophytes in places where they are not growing. Quarterly campaigns are also carried out for analyzing the physical, chemical and biological parameters of the final effluent that is generated, in order to monitor its quality and ensure that it complies with the limits established in current legislation.
Questions & Answers
Sustainable Juruti
What is the Sustainable Juruti Project?
This is a new development model in the Amazon, which aims to serve three aspects of sustainability: respect for the environment, social responsibility and economic success, all with a view to regional development.
In partnership with the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio), a series of surveys and discussions were carried out by a multidisciplinary team, including Field research and collecting information about the local and regional reality. The result was a report that was presented in 2006, called “A Sustainable Juruti: Diagnosis and Recommendations”, which presented the model for implementing a local sustainable development agenda.
The Sustainable Juruti Project has been working successfully, based on the so-called sustainability tripod: 1) the Sustainable Juruti Council 2) a System of Sustainability Indicators; and 3) the Sustainable Juruti Fund.
What is the Sustainable Juruti Council and what is its function?
Set up in February 2008, the Sustainable Juruti Council brings together for dialogue nine civil institutions, three representatives from public authorities and three companies who operate in Juruti. The objective is to observe and discuss the actions carried out in Juruti for development of the municipality, including the building works of the Positive Agenda, the Environmental Control Plans and other Alcoa initiatives.
The Council was formed following Integration Workshops that were held in September 2007 and February 2008. The events brought together representatives from Juruti’s civil institutions, the public authorities, rural communities and Alcoa’s partners to discuss the dialogue opportunity that was about to materialize. Currently, CONJUS has its mission, principles and statutes and is working towards helping form the Juruti Agenda 21, as well as continuing with negotiations for the creation of the Community Bases Network, which will be the Council’s arm fro dealing with the demands of rural communities. The idea of the Network is that the communities are organized into centers, with representatives elected by the residents themselves.
What are the technical Chambers of CONJUS?
The Sustainable Juruti Council also has eight Technical Chambers, groups formed by representatives from Juruti society, divided thematically with the objective of responding to social demands in the areas of health, education, the environment, security, infrastructure and sanitation, culture and tourism, rural development, the economy and labor and citizenship, children and adolescents. The function of the chambers is to perceive the needs in each of the areas and pass them on to the Council.
What are the main actions that have already been developed with the participation of CONJUS?
Since its inauguration, the Council has played na important part in the planning of sustainability activities in the municipality. Currently, in a partnership with the Institute Of Religious Studies (ISER) it is formulating the Prevention of Violence in Juruti Plan, work that has the commitment of teachers, Young People, taxi drivers and various other interested groups of residents.
It has also already supported campaigns, such as Peace in the Traffic, with its focus of making people aware of safety on the streets, and Amazon Day, directed at building environmental awareness, especially in children.
Is Alcoa the leader of CONJUS?
No. The Council is currently presided over by the 100% Juruti Movement, one of the nine civil institutions which are members. Alcoa participates in CONJUS in the company group and has the same rights and duties as all the other member institutions.
What is the Sustainable Juruti Fund? Is it already functioning?
FUNJUS is the financial arm of the Sustainable Juruti Tripod. The mechanism was launched in May 2009, as a pilot scheme, with the objective of complementing the funds fro social, economic and environmental projects that are aimed at the development of Juruti.
In its pilot phase FUNJUS is going to prioritize projects proposed by local non-governmental organizations, or those whose headquarters are in Pará. To encourage the participation of the Juruti society the invitation to bid notice presents a special line of financing for projects of organizations whose actions are widely recognized, but that are not yet formally constituted. Public institutions may be partners, but not bidders.
Where will resources for the Fund come from?
Alcoa is the first company to deposit money in the Sustainable Juruti Fund. The Company will donate R$ 2 million of which R$ 500,000 will be used in the Fund’s pilot phase, which will last two years. The intention is that other institutions contribute to the development of Juruti through the Fund.
Who manages the Fund?
The Fund is a proposal that was prepared jointly by Alcoa and Funbio, but it is na instrument of the municipality. Funbio will incubate the Fund and will be responsible for its technical and administrative coordination, under the general supervision of the donating company, which today is only Alcoa.
The Fund’s board has already been set up and its function will be to evaluate and select the projects to be supported by the Fund. It comprises five members of the Sustainable Juruti Council (CONJUS), one representative of the donor and one representative of the institution that operates in project funding in the region.
How is CONJUS going to operate vis-à-vis FUNJUS?
Through the work of the eight Technical Chambers CONJUS will be able to identify the municipality’s main demands for investment, thereby contributing to selection of the projects. CONJUS and FUNJUS are part of the sustainability tripod, which also includes the Sustainability Indicators, which are being prepared by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), with the objective of monitoring various aspects that indicate the municipality’s development.
What are the Sustainability Indicators?
They are aspects that will be monitored, thereby seeking to measure and understand the municipality’s development. In all 87 indicators in three areas were identified: 27 related to the environment; 38 to man and society; and 22 to the economy and infrastructure.
The objective is that the indicators will feed social mobilization spaces with information about the transformations that have occurred in Juruti and the region and underpin public policies, private social investments in the region and the financial instruments placed at the disposal of the community, like the Sustainable Juruti Fund itself.
How were the indicators established?
In the initial stage various groups of residents from Juruti’s urban and rural areas volunteered to be interviewed by technicians from the FGV. They related what their way of life was like in the past, their current situation and what they hoped for in the future.
After the interviews the team pulled the data together and returned to the municipality to present the first proposal of Indicators, in meetings with representatives from partner institutions and public authorities; this presentation was also given in Santarém and Belém.
The indicators have already been made available on the internet fro public consultation, which resulted in criticism and suggestions. In the current phase information is being gathered about the ways that each indicator can be monitored, the sources of information and the data that are going to indicate the way in which the municipality can develop in each of the areas.
What is the Juruti Sustainability School?
This is a training program with 40 representatives from pubic organizations and civil society in Juruti in hwo to prepare socio-economic and environmental projects. The projects of the students receive help from specialist to stimulate competitiveness and seek funding. The program lasts a year and lessons started in April 2009.
In this initiative Alcoa is counting on its partnership with the Peabiru Institute that is coordinating the school. The Institute has been operating since 2004, mainly in training resident associations and producers from traditional communities in the Amazon. FUNJUS will be one of the financing options fro projects prepared by students from the Juruti Sustainability School.
Questions & Answers.
Socio-environmental investments
How are the socio-environmental investments in made the Juruti Mine used?
As part of its legal obligations to the licensing body, Alcoa has embarked upon 35 programs within its Environmental Control Plans (PCAs), for which it has made available funds of some R$ 30 million. The PCAs are divided into programs relating to the physical environment, the biotic environment, the socio-economic environment and managerial plans.
Also on-going are various complementary activities that are of direct benefit to the population via the Positive Agenda, to which R$ 50 million have been allocated. The proposal of the Positive Agenda, which was jointly prepared with the Juruti Town Administration, is to bring about improvements in the quality of life through investments in rural and urban infrastructure, health, education, culture, the environment, public security and social assistance.
Which physical environment PCAs are being carried out?
Among the physical environment programs those that particularly stand out have to do with monitoring the air, climate, soil and water. Studies are periodically carried out to evaluate whether the Mine construction work is interfering with air quality, particularly in local communities, because of dust emission, caused mainly by the movement of machinery and vehicles and by wind action.
Alcoa also has two weather stations in Juruti. Among the parameters being analyzed are rainfall levels, air temperature, atmospheric pressure, soil temperature, wind speed and solar radiation. These parameters may help identify possible climate alterations during the setting up and operating phases of the Juruti Mine.
Measures for conserving the soil and projecting water courses have also been introduced. In periods of heavy rainfall care is doubled so that there are no drainage problems resulting from the project construction work. Springs are protected with physical barriers and a “biomantle” has been spread over the soil to protect it against erosion and help in the development of vegetation. Exposed slopes are also receiving protection with the application of hydroseding (grass and deep-rooted plant seeds mixed with water and sprayed onto the area to avoid erosion).
Which biotic environment PCAs are being carried out?
A large number of the biotic environment programs are being carried out in partnership with the Emílio Goeldi Para Museum, which is monitoring the municipality’s fauna and flora. This work evaluates the real impact of the undertaking in the region and what can be done to minimize it. The idea is that this becomes a pilot project, a working standard, for the whole of the Amazon region. Researchers are saving the fauna and flora, which is going to make it possible to carry out in-depth studies into Juruti’s animals and plants, including specific studies of the different species of fish, terrestrial animals, spiders and invertebrates, as well as the microorganisms that live in the water.
Which socio-economic PCAs are being carried out?
The socio-economic environment is covered by 14 programs that focus on the quality of life of the population of Juruti and mitigation of the project’s social impact.
Work in the health area involves a cooperation agreement with the Evandro Chagas Institute (IEC), which between 2006 and 2009 undertook research and prepared diagnoses, which have resulted in preventive actions and the strengthening of the municipality’s Single Health System (SUS) facility.
Providing the local labor force with qualifications with the aim of preparing the town’s residents for employment, is another initiative that has been on-going since June 2006. In a partnership with the National Industrial Apprenticeship Service (Senai) of Pará, Alcoa has been offering qualification courses, the goal of which is to train some 2,800 professionals. Technical courses, such as the ones on the environment (already concluded) and safety at work, have been provided by Senai at no cost whatsoever to the local population, several groups of students have also taken the Juruti Mine Male and Female Operatives and Trainer program. The qualifications are being offered to local people so that they are ready for working anywhere, not necessarily at the Juruti Mine. In response to a request from the Municipal Department of Education 8 itinerant course were also offered in 5 rural centers, including in Juruti Velho.
As part of the PCAs, various rural communities in Juruti are also taking part in a program for farming fish in net tanks, called “floating cages”, and in a family farming program for growing fruit and vegetables; both of these programs serve either for their own subsistence or for selling produce. Another compensatory initiative is the introduction of agriforest systems (SAFs). These help local residents apply sustainable techniques to the use and management of the land, where long-cycle plants (fruit trees, hardwood trees and bushes) are grown alongside annual cycle agricultural crops, such as beans, corn, rice, cassava, etc.
In addition, Alcoa is also setting up in the traditional communities in the region a Valuing and Restoring Cultural Heritage program, which focuses on providing craftspeople with the skills they need to produce pottery and costume jewelry items using resources taken from the environment. This program also provides young people with the means of working. Local residents are also being offered programs for collecting fruit and seeds and working in the plant nursery.
Alcoa is also developing a Heritage Education Program in Juruti, as a result of the discovery of 85 archeological sites containing ancient objects, such as fragments of pottery and stone artifacts that date back almost 2000 years. The objective of the program is to promote knowledge, ownership and a valuing of the cultural heritage that comes from these archeological sites. This initiative is also in line with advice received from the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN). Teachers from the municipality’s public schools network have taken part in Heritage Education courses. The idea is that they act as the multipliers of knowledge about the archeological sites. Teachers from the rural area, students, craftspeople and pottery artists have also taken part in other modules of the course that have been given during 2009.
Which Management Plans are being carried out?
The programs in this area comprise activities that are being constantly carried out in the undertaking. These involve the environmental monitoring, control and protection of the construction site. The Solid Waste Management program, which is responsible for the Juruti Mine’s Residue Disposal Area, a place where all the waste from products currently used by the project is separated, is prominent among these initiatives. On average 90% of all the waste that is generated is currently being recycled. Another important piece of work is managing the project’s liquid effluent. Three Water Treatment Stations have been planned for, one in the port area, one in the beneficiation area and one at Km2 on the highway/railroad; total treatment capacity will be 40 cubic meters of water an hour.
What are the main actions of the Positive Agenda in the health area?
Basic Health Units have been constructed in the Palmeiras and Maracanã districts, as has a Mixed Unit in Vila Muirapinima, or Juruti Velho. New x-ray equipment, an autoclave, a hospital washing machine and drier, a spin-drier and a linen presser have been acquired for the Francisco Barros Municipal Hospital, which is also being extended and refurbished by the Positive Agenda. The hospital will have a mixed unit, a Medical Out-patient Care Center and Mother-Infant In-patient Unit. At present the Juruti Community Hospital is also being built; this will serve as a benchmark for medium and high level complex care.
What are the main actions of the as Positive Agenda in the education and culture areas?
Funds have been passed to the Municipal Administration, for the construction of 16 new classrooms in public schools, the building work of which is currently on-going. The Positive Agenda is also supporting the Environmental Education, Heritage Education and Support for Public Educational Help programs, three of the PCAs, which are training teachers and education professionals.
In the culture area, every year funds are given to the Munduruku and Muirapinima tribes’ folklore associations, which hold the Juruti Tribal Festival. These associations have also received resources for building the sheds where they make their highly elaborate floats and brightly decorated costumes.
What are the main actions of the Positive Agenda in the security and justice area?
To help with local security and justice the town’s Civil Police station was refurbished and extended. To improve traffic safety aspects the route that Mine vehicles must follow in the center of town has been defined, in order to reduce traffic flow on the busiest roads. The Juriti legal complex is currently being built; it will have a Court House and three official residences for the judge, the public prosecutor and the public defense attorney.
What are the main actions of the Positive Agenda relating to the environment?
Regionally, Alcoa is encouraging the maintenance of conservation units, by providing funds from the Agenda via the Program for Supporting Conservation of the Biodiversity of the Amazon, which since 2004 has been collaborating with the setting up of units in the region. The Program is scheduled to last five years and will receive R$ 2 million from partner institutions: Alcoa, Alcoa Foundation and the environmental organization, Conservation International (CI-Brasil). The amount to be invested in this period will be R$ 400,000 a month, half of which will come from the Alcoa Foundation and half from CI-Brasil. The idea is that by 2012 a fund will have been created, worth an estimated R$ 60 million, for protecting the region’s conservation units.
Alcoa is also going to invest in the establishment of an environmental conservation unit in the municipality of Juruti itself, via a National System of Conservation Units (SNUC).
What are the main actions of the Positive Agenda for urban and rural Infrastructure?
In the rural area, among the works already concluded those that particularly stand out are the improvements in existing access roads and the opening of new ones to the Lago Preto region, the Cipó local road, the Socó local road, 17 km of road to the Batata community and bridges over the Branco River and the Santo Antônio Creek. Part of the PA-257 highway and a municipal feeder road to the Juriti Mine beneficiation area have been paved, which has improved traffic conditions for those who live in the communities in the municipality’s uplands region.
In the urban area the highlight is the contribution made to preparation of the town’s Participative Master Plan. A water supply microsystem was built in the Bom Pastor district, where drainage work was also carried out. Wells were sunk in the Santa Rita district and in the town center, two garbage compacter trucks were donated to the town and improvements are being carried out on its unpaved roads.
What is the Collective Compensation Matrix (MCC)?
This is a set of 33 actions aimed at compensating those communities that come under the direct influence of the project’s railroad and highway in the Socó I settlement. The MCC was defined following an agreement between the Municipal Administration, the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), APRAS, the Juruti Male and Female Rural Workers’ Trade Union (STTR) and Alcoa. The planned work covers the areas of infrastructure, the environment, the economy, education and leisure.
What are the main works of the MCC?
In addition to making new roads or improving existing ones, the physical works currently most noticeable are taking place in the education area, such as the building of model-schools in the São Pedro, Café Torrado and Santa Terezinha communities of Lago das Piranhas. The São Pedro community has also received a new community center, a multisports hall and its water supply microsystem has been extended.
In the Santa Terezinha community, a water supply microsystem has been built. In addition, five Amazon wells were drilled and a new soccer field was prepared. In Café Torrado a public telephone was installed, improvements were made to the existing soccer field and a water supply microsystem was provided.
Over and above the PCAs, the Positive Agenda and the MCC, is Alcoa involved with other environmental conservation initiatives in the region?
Yellow-spotted turtles, six-tubercled river turtles and South American river turtles from Juruti form part of the management and conservation work carried out by the Turtles of the Amazon Project. This initiative and three other environmental projects comprise the Turtle Integrated Management Program, a partnership between Alcoa and the Chico Mendes Institute for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMbio) and the Brazilian Association for the Conservation of Turtles (Pró-Tartaruga). In 2008, the project returned more than 7,700 young turtles to rivers and lakes in the Juruti region.
Has there been any forest clearance in areas not authorized in the Agricultural, Hunting and Gathering Settlement Project in Juruti Velho and Socó?
There has been no type of deforestation of this nature. Vegetation is cleared only in authorized areas. Alcoa is working to reduce the area cleared of vegetation to a minimum, by incorporating the green areas into its project and using more precise cutting techniques. The Company received authorization to clear 1,200 hectares for setting up the project. Cutting activities are drawing to an end and approximately 800 hectares have been cleared, thereby avoiding removing 400 hectares of vegetation.
All the Brazil nut tree saplings found in the area of the Juruti Mine have been saved. They are being carefully looked after in Alcoa’s tree nursery and being reintroduced into a similar ecosystem. For each Brazil nut tree cut down, 20 new Brazil nut saplings will be planted. Other forest species that are threatened with extinction are being similarly treated.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ALCOA AND THE COMMUNITY
Are the people of Juruti against Alcoa’s project?
No. A survey carried out in 2008 by the Brazilian Public Opinion and Statistical Institute (IBOPE) indicates that 89% of the population is in favor of or accept Alcoa’s project in the municipality.
Demonstrations by certain sectors of the community are isolated occurrences and restricted to the Juruti Velho region. Alcoa respects these communities, is in dialogue with them and has been developing compensatory activities, as expressed in the Positive Agenda, which comprises voluntary initiatives that go beyond the legal requirements.
How does Alcoa establish dialogue with the community?
Various communication instruments have been created that make dialogue with the local population feasible, including with communities that are thinly spread in remote rural areas. There is the “Dialogue with the Community” program, which provides clarification talks on various subjects, covering how the Juruti Mine construction work is progressing and the activities of the PCAs and the Positive Agenda. With the “Visit of the Community” program local residents can get to know the Juruti Mine building work, accompanied by professionals from the construction and environment areas, who are able to clarify people’s doubts and receive their suggestions.
Furthermore, a radio program (Sintonia) goes on the air once a week, on Saturday, in Juruti, Santarem and Oriximiná, giving information about the Company’s initiatives. The Reference Center, an office located in the center of Juruti, is the main focus for handling community demands.
Alcoa also forms part of the Sustainable Juruti Council (CONJUS), a forum comprising 15 institutions from Juruti, which discusses and oversees the municipality’s development activities (see Chapter IV).
What is the relationship between Alcoa and the Juruti Velho communities like?
Some communities in the Juruti Velho region are close to the bauxite mining and beneficiation areas of the Juruti Mine. Many localities are partners of Alcoa in projects coming under the PCAs and other sustainability activities, especially fish farming, vegetable production and the Turtles of the Amazon Project. Led by the Community Association of the Juruti Velho Region (ACORJUVE), some community representatives are demanding compensation for Alcoa’s presence in the region, including payment for use of the land and for the project’s activities.
What are ACOJURVE’s main demands and how has Alcoa handled them?
The Association is demanding that 1.5% of the mining activity profits should be paid to owners of the areas from which the ore will be extracted, as their participation in the results of the bauxite mining. This is an amount, the payment of which is established by the federal legislation that governs the mineral sector and with which the Company was always prepared to comply.
ACOJURVE is also claiming compensation for use of the land in the region by the project.
The solutions for each demand have been debated since the beginning of 2008 in meetings between residents of Juruti Velho and Alcoa, with the participation of the State and Federal Prosecutors’ offices and other government bodies.
What is the total area to be used by the undertaking within the Juriti Velho Agricultural, Hunting and Gathering Settlement Project (PAE)?
The Juruti Velho PAE covers a total area of 109,000 ha, of which only 2,500 ha will be used for mining activities. After these activities have come to an end the areas will be rehabilitated with the same species that were found there before mining started.
What is the situation with land regularization within the Juruti Velho PAE?
Incra is working so that residents in the region obtain the so-called CDRU (Grant of True Right to Use). Those residents who have the CDRU are not allowed to dispose of, transfer, sell or rent the property without permission from the public authorities.
Why did ACOJURVE carry out a protest on company premises in Juruti, in January 2009?
Ever since the project started being introduced the high and pre-existing social tensions, resulting from the many social and economic woes of the western Para region, have led a group of inhabitants from Juruti Velho to view Alcoa as the immediate solution for these woes and to demand investments and actions from the Company that are the responsibility of public authorities and not a private company.
On January 27, 2009, at the time of the World Social Forum in Belém, these tensions led to an attempt by some 150 people to invade the Company’s base on the banks of the Juruti Velho Lake(Capiranga base) and to the blocking of the PA-192 state highway on January 30, which isolated a fundamental part of the work by preventing the transportation of people and equipment.
The supposed reason for the invasion was the non-compliance by Alcoa with the law and regulations and the absence of any dialogue with society. The blockade came as a surprise and threatened negotiations that aimed to deal with almost all the demands of that group of residents. Some 80% of the items referring to Alcoa were being covered by the negotiations led by Incra.
How was the issue solved?
On the initiative of the Pará State Government, Alcoa was invited to a meeting that was held on February 3, 2009. The Company agreed to take part provided that the PA-192 highway was liberated beforehand. The invaders agreed and in the meeting the negotiation process gained new momentum, restoring the dialogue that had been going on since the beginning of 2008 and continuing along the path towards solutions and with the promise to end the invasion.
Who will Alcoa pay royalties to on account of its mining activities?
Alcoa is waiting for a legal definition of this issue. The question was always to define to whom these amounts should be paid and in what way, bearing in mind the current land ownership rights indefinition in the region: whether these payments should be made to members of the community of Juruti Velho, residents in the region who are still looking to legalize their land, or to the Federal Government, which owns the land. Incra, Alcoa and Acorjuve intend to appeal jointly to the Government, so that as the land owner it defines the best solution for all parties concerned.
And what about payment for use of the land and for the damage and losses in areas related to the project?
As far as this compensation is concerned, following an agreement between Acorjuve, Alcoa and INCRA, we are currently moving towards having a Term of Reference that is similar to the Collective Compensation Matrix that was negotiated for the Socó I Settlement communities. Ecoideia, an institution linked to the University of Brasília, has been hired to study the case and establish methodologies for paying the compensation.
Specialist technicians will detail, in as far as is necessary, the various aspects of the Term of Reference.
In order to define the compensation to be paid to the Juruti Velho communities how will the impact be measured?
Ecoideia will carry out interviews in five centers in the communities in order to calculate the positive and negative impacts relating to the presence of the mine. The company has undertaken to be impartial and not be influenced by Alcoa or ACORJUVE when collecting data about the impacts.
Is there any payment for the use of water?
Alcoa is waiting for legal advice about the use of water and compensation, so that some payment may be made, if necessary.
How many families were relocated because of the building work on the port terminal?
We identified 49 families and 55 properties; 44 of the families were owners and 31 were residents in the properties located in the area. So, 31 families were relocated.
Is it true that the company paid R$ 0.40 per m2 (square meter) to residents who were removed because of the port and railroad civil construction works?
No. The amount paid to the owners of plots of land in Alcoa’s port area was R$ 4.025 per square meter, including reproductive betterments. As they were small suburban plots of land the calculation was in square meters. In addition to the amount calculated on the area, constructed betterment was also considered, for which there was a complementary additional payment. Along the whole of the length of the railroad, as we were dealing with large plots of land calculation of the area was in hectares. The amount paid was R$ 2,400.00 per hectare.
The amounts paid to owners, whether in the port or the railroad areas, exceeded any reference value in the region; they were higher than the average official and market valuations. In the region where the beneficiation installations are located nobody was relocated.
SUSTAINABLE JURUTI PROJECT
What is the Sustainable Juruti Project?
This is a new development model in the Amazon, which aims to serve three aspects of sustainability: respect for the environment, social responsibility and economic success, all with a view to regional development.
In partnership with the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio), a series of surveys and discussions were carried out by a multidisciplinary team, including field research and the collection of information about the local and regional reality. The result was a report that was presented in 2006, called “A Sustainable Juruti: Diagnosis and Recommendations”, which presented the model for implementing a local sustainable development agenda.
The Sustainable Juruti Project has been working successfully, based on its so-called sustainability tripod: 1) the Sustainable Juruti Council 2) a System of Sustainability Indicators; and 3) the Sustainable Juruti Fund.
What is the Sustainable Juruti Council and what is its function?
Set up in February 2008, the Sustainable Juruti Council brings together nine civil institutions, three public authority representatives and three companies who operate in Juruti for dialogue. The objective is to observe and discuss the actions carried out in Juruti for developing the municipality, including the Positive Agenda building works, the Environmental Control Plans and other Alcoa initiatives.
The Council was formed following Integration Workshops that were held in September 2007 and February 2008. The events brought together representatives from Juruti’s civil institutions, public authorities, rural communities and Alcoa’s partners to discuss the dialogue opportunity that was about to materialize. Currently, CONJUS has its mission, principles and statutes and is working towards helping form the Juruti Agenda 21, as well as continuing with negotiations for the creation of the Community Bases Network, which will be the Council’s arm for dealing with the demands of rural communities. The idea of the Network is that the communities are organized into centers, with representatives elected by the residents themselves.
What are the Technical Chambers of CONJUS?
The Sustainable Juruti Council also has eight Technical Chambers, groups formed by representatives from Juruti society, divided thematically with the objective of responding to social demands in the areas of health, education, the environment, security, infrastructure and sanitation, culture and tourism, rural development, the economy and labor and citizenship, children and adolescents. The function of the chambers is to detect the needs that exist in each of the areas and pass them on to the Council.
What are the main actions that have already been developed with the participation of CONJUS?
Since its inauguration, the Council has played an important part in the planning of sustainability activities in the municipality. Currently, in a partnership with the Institute of Religious Studies (ISER) it is formulating the Prevention of Violence in Juruti Plan, work that has the commitment of teachers, young people, taxi drivers and various other interested groups of residents.
It has also already supported campaigns, such as Peace in the Traffic, with its focus on making people aware of safety on the streets, and Amazon Day, directed at building environmental awareness, especially in children.
Is Alcoa the leader of CONJUS?
No. The Council is currently presided over by the 100% Juruti Movement, one of the nine civil institutions which are members. Alcoa participates in CONJUS in the company group and has the same rights and duties as all the other member institutions.
What is the Sustainable Juruti Fund? Is it already functioning?
FUNJUS is the financial arm of the Sustainable Juruti Tripod. The mechanism was launched in May 2009, as a pilot scheme, with the objective of complementing the funds for social, economic and environmental projects that are aimed at the development of Juruti.
In its pilot phase FUNJUS is going to prioritize projects proposed by local non-governmental organizations, or those whose headquarters are in Pará. To encourage the participation of the Juruti society the invitation to bid notice presents a special line of financing for projects from organizations, the actions of which are widely recognized, but that are not yet formally constituted. Public institutions may be partners, but not bidders.
Where will resources for the Fund come from?
Alcoa is the first company to deposit money in the Sustainable Juruti Fund. The Company will donate R$ 2 million of which R$ 500,000 will be used in the Fund’s pilot phase, which will last two years. The intention is that other institutions contribute to the development of Juruti through the Fund.
Who manages the Fund?
The Fund is a proposal that was prepared jointly by Alcoa and Funbio, but it is an instrument of the municipality. Funbio will incubate the Fund and will be responsible for its technical and administrative coordination, under the general supervision of the donating company, which today is only Alcoa.
The Fund’s board has already been set up and its function will be to evaluate and select the projects to be supported by the Fund. It comprises five members of the Sustainable Juruti Council (CONJUS), one representative of the donor and one representative of the institution that provides project funding in the region.
How is CONJUS going to operate vis-à-vis FUNJUS?
Through the work of the eight Technical Chambers CONJUS will be able to identify the municipality’s main demands for investment, thereby helping when it comes to selecting the projects. CONJUS and FUNJUS are part of the sustainability tripod, which also includes the Sustainability Indicators, which are being prepared by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV), with the aim of monitoring various aspects that indicate how the municipality is developing.
What are the Sustainability Indicators?
They are aspects that will be monitored and that seek to measure and understand the municipality’s development. In all 87 indicators in three areas were identified: 27 related to the environment; 38 to man and society; and 22 to the economy and infrastructure.
The objective is that the indicators will feed into the social mobilization area, by providing information about the transformations that have occurred in Juruti and the region, and will underpin the public policies, private social investments in the region and the financial instruments placed at the disposal of the community, like the Sustainable Juruti Fund itself.
How were the indicators established?
In the initial stage various groups of residents from Juruti’s urban and rural areas volunteered to be interviewed by technicians from the FGV. They told researchers what their way of life was like in the past, their current situation and what they hoped for in the future.
After the interviews the team pulled the data together and went back to the municipality to present the first proposal of Indicators, in meetings with representatives from partner institutions and public authorities; this presentation was also given in Santarém and Belém.
The indicators have already been made available on the internet for public consultation, which resulted in criticisms and suggestions. In the current phase, information is being gathered about the ways that each indicator can be monitored, the sources of information and the data that are going to indicate the way in which the municipality can develop in each of the areas.
What is the Juruti Sustainability School?
This is a training program for 40 representatives from pubic organizations and civil society in Juruti in how to prepare socio-economic and environmental projects. The student projects receive help from specialists in how to stimulate competitiveness and seek funding. The program lasts a year and lessons started in April 2009.
In this initiative Alcoa is relying on help coming from its partnership with the Peabiru Institute that is coordinating the school. The Institute has been operating since 2004, mainly in training resident associations and producers from traditional communities in the Amazon. FUNJUS will be one of the financing options for projects prepared by students from the Juruti Sustainability
School.
Questions & Answers
Juruti Velho
Are the people of Juruti against Alcoa’s project?
No. A survey carried out in 2008 by the Brazilian Public Opinion and Statistical Institute (IBOPE) indicates that 89% of the population is in favor or accept Alcoa’s project in the municipality.
The manifestations of sectors of the community are isolated occurrences and restricted to the Juruti Velho region. Alcoa respects these communities, is in dialogue with them and has been developing compensatory activities in this direction, as expressed in the Positive Agenda, which comprises voluntary initiatives that go beyond the legal requirements.
How does Alcoa establish dialogue with the community?
Various communication instruments were created that make dialogue feasible with the local population, including communities that are sparsely located in the rural areas. There is the “Dialogue with the Community” program, which provides clarification talks on various subjects, covering how the Juruti Mine construction work is progressing and the activities of the PCAs and the Positive Agenda. With the “Visit of the Community” program local residents can get to know the Juruti Mine building work, accompanied by professionals from the construction and environment areas, who are able to clarify people’s doubts and receive their suggestions.
Furthermore, a radio program (Sintonia) goes on the air once a week, on Saturday, in Juruti, Santarem and Oriximiná, giving information about the Company’s initiatives. The Reference Center, na Office located in the Center of Juruti, is the main focus for attending to the demands of the community.
Alcoa also forms part of the Sustainable Juruti Council (CONJUS), a forum comprising 15 institutions from Juruti, which discusses and oversees the municipality’s development activities (see Chapter IV).
What is the relationship between Alcoa and the Juruti Velho communities like?
Some communities in the Juruti Velho region are close to the bauxite mining and beneficiation area of the Juruti Mine. Many localities are partners of Alcoa in projects coming under the PCAs and other sustainability activities, especially the farming of fish, the production of vegetables and the Turtles of the Amazon Project. Led by the Community Association of the Juruti Velho Region (ACORJUVE), some community representatives are demanding compensation for Alcoa’s presence in the region, among which is payment for use of the soil and for the project’s activities.
What are ACOJURVE’s main demands and how has Alcoa handled them?
The Association is demanding that 1.5% of the mining activity profits should be paid to owners of the areas from which the ore will be extracted, for participation in the results of the bauxite mining. This is na amount, the payment of which is established by the federal legislation that governs the mineral sector and with which the Company was always prepared to comply.
ACOJURVE is also claiming compensation for use of the land in the region by the project.
The solutions for each demand have been debated since the beginning of 2008 in meetings between residents of Juruti Velho and Alcoa, with the participation of the State and Federal Prosecutors’ offices and other government bodies.
What is the total area to be used by the undertaking within the Juriti Velho Agricultural, Hunting and Gathering Settlement Project (PAE)?
The Juruti Velho PAE covers a total area of 109,000 ha, of which only 2,500 ha will be used for mining activities. After these activities the areas will be rehabilitated with the same species that were found there before mining started.
What is the situation with land regularization within the Juruti Velho PAE?
Incra is working towards the residents in the region obtaining the so-called CDRU (Grant of True Right to Use). Those residents who have the CDRU are not allowed to dispose of, transfer, sell or rent the property without permission from public authorities.
Why did ACOJURVE carry out a protects on company premises in Juruti, in January 2009?
Ever since the Project started being introduced the great pre-existing social tensions, resulting from the many social and economic woes of the western Para region, have led a group of inhabitants from Juruti Velho to view Alcoa as the immediate solution for these woes and to demand investments and actions from the Company that are the responsibility of public authorities and not a private company.
On January 27, 2009, at the time of the World Social Forum in Belém, these tensions led to na attempt to invade the Company’s base on the banks of the Juruti Velho Lake(Capiranga base) by some 150 people and the blocking of the PA-192 state highway as of January 30, which isolated a fundamental part of the work by preventing the transportation of people and equipment.
The supposed reason for the invasion was the non-compliance by Alcoa with the Law and regulations and also the absence of dialogue with society. The blockade caused surprise and threatened
negotiations that aimed to deal with almost all the demands of that group of residents. Some 80% of the items referring to Alcoa were being covered by the negotiations led by Incra.
How was the issue solved?
On the initiative of the Pará State Government, Alcoa was invited to a meeting that was held on February 3, 2009. The Company agreed to take part provided that the PA-192 highway was liberated beforehand. The invaders agreed and in this meeting the negotiation process gained new strength, restoring the dialogue that had been occurring since the beginning of 2008 and continuing with the path towards solutions and with the promise to end the invasion.
Who will Alcoa pay royalties to on account of its mining activities?
Alcoa is waiting for a legal definition of the matter. the question was always to define to whom these amounts should be paid and in what way, bearing in mind that the current land in definition in the region: if these payments must be made to members of the community of Juruti Velho, residents in the region who are still looking to legalize their land, or to the Federal Government, which owns the land. Incra, Alcoa and Acorjuve intend to appeal jointly to the Government, so that as the owner it defines the Best solution for all parties concerned.
And what about payment for use of the land and for the damage and losses in areas related to the project?
As far as this compensation is concerned, currently we are moving towards the creating of a Term of Reference, in a consensus between Acorjuve, Alcoa and INCRA that ,is similar to the Collective Compensation Matrix that was negotiated for the Socó I Settlement communities. Ecoideia, na institution linked to the University of Brasília, has been hired to study the case and establish methodologies for paying the compensation.
Specialist technicians will detail, in as far as is necessary, the various aspects of the Term f Reference.
How will the impact for defining the compensation for the Juruti Velho communities be measured?
Ecoideia will carry out interviews in Five centers in the communities in oredr to calculate the positive and negative impacts relating to the presence of the mine. The company has undertaken to be impartial and not be influenced by Alcoa or ACORJUVE when collecting data about the impacts.
Is there any payment for the use of water?
Alcoa is waiting for legal advice about the use of water and compensation, so that some payment may be made, if necessary.
How many families were relocated because of the building work on the port terminal?
We identified 49 families and 55 properties; 44 of the families were owners and 31 were residents in the properties located in the area. So, 31 families were relocated.
Is it true that the company paid R$ 0.40 per m2 (square meter) to residents who were removed because o the civil construction works of the port and railroad?
No. The amount paid to the owners of plots of land in Alcoa’s port area was R$ 4.025 per square meter, including reproductive betterments. As they were small suburban plots of land the calculation was in square meters. In addition to the amount calculated on the area, constructed betterment was also considered, for which there was a complementary additional payment. Along the whole of the length of the railroad, as we were dealing with large plots of the area calculation was in hectares. The amount paid was R$ 2,400.00 per hectare.
The amounts paid to owners, whether in the port or the railroad area, exceeded any reference value in the region, being over the average of the official and market valuations. In the region where the beneficiation installations are located nobody was relocated.
|
