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September 15, 2009
Alcoa in Juruti: economic impulse and sustainable development
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The undertaking in the west of Pará is promoting growth in the municipality and the region, without losing the focus on sustainability.
It took three years of building work, overcoming the logistic challenges of constructing a mining operation the size of the Juruti Mine in the Amazon on a daily basis, and satisfying the social and environmental demands that are characteristic of the region. As it initiates the operations phase in Juruti on balance the actions that Alcoa has promoted in partnership with the local community are positive; in an Ibope public opinion poll carried out at the end 2007 an outright majority of the people said they approved of the project.
During the building phase 9,500 jobs were generated, with 80% of the employees, on average, coming from the State of Para, of whom 30% were Juruti residents. The Juruti Mine Professional Qualification Program helped prepare this labor force, with the training of more than 2,500 people to meet both the needs of the undertaking and of local and regional markets.
In order to improve the quality of life by investing in infrastructure in partnership with the Juruti Municipal Administration and with the agreement of the community, Alcoa prepared and introduced its Positive Agenda. With investments totaling R$ 50 million, the package of actions covers the areas of rural and urban infrastructure, health, education, culture, the environment, public security and social assistance. It is a set of voluntary actions on the part of the Company that were agreed directly with the community following public hearings that resulted in the license being granted for setting up the Juruti Mine.
Health – Basic Health Units have been built in the Palmeiras and Maracanã districts and Mixed Units in Vila Muirapinima, or Juruti Velho, and in Vila Tabatinga. New X-ray equipment, an autoclave, a hospital washing machine and spin-drier and linen roller press have also been purchased for the Francisco Barros Municipal Hospital, which is also being extended and refurbished as part of the Positive Agenda. Construction is also currently underway on the Juruti Community Hospital; this will be a benchmark for medium and high complexity medical care.
Security and justice – For local security and justice the municipal Civil Police station was extended and refurbished and living quarters were constructed for the Military Police. To improve aspects of traffic safety a vehicle flow-route was established for the Company’s vehicles in the center of town, thereby reducing traffic flow along the busiest roads. A Juruti legal complex was also built, with a Court House and three official houses for the local judge, public prosecutor and public defense attorney.
Education and culture – Funds were given to the Municipal Administration for building 16 new classrooms in public schools; this work is currently underway. For 2010 the plan of the Positive Agenda is to build the Juruti Culture House that will house exhibitions, cultural workshops, events and also the town’s archeological treasures.
Urban and rural infrastructure – In the rural zone, among the work already concluded are improvements in or the opening up of new access roads to the Lago Preto region, the Cipó neighborhood road, a 17 km road to the Batata community and bridges over the Branco River and the Santo Antônio creek. Stretches of the PA-257, PA-192 and PA-260 highways, which provide access to he Juruti Mine beneficiation area, were paved. There are now 55 km of roads in a great state of repair, thus improving traffic for those who live in communities in the highland plain region of the municipality.
In the Juruti urban zone the emphasis has been on the contribution made to preparing the town’s Participative Master Plan. A miscrosystem for supplying water to the Bom Pastor district was also built and drainage work was done locally. Deep wells were drilled in Santa Rita, São Marcos and in the center of Juruti to supply water to local inhabitants and two garbage compacter trucks were donated to the Municipal Administration.
Conservation
At the regional level Alcoa is encouraging the maintenance of conservation units, with its Program for Supporting Biodiversity Conservation in the Amazon, which since 2004 has collaborated with the setting up of units in the region. The Program will last for 5 years and receive R$ 2 million from the partner institutions: Alcoa, Alcoa Foundation and environmental organization, Conservation international (CI-Brasil).
During this period he investment will be R$ 400,000 a year, half coming from the Alcoa Foundation and half from CI-Brasil. The idea is that by 2012 a fund be set up for an amount estimated at R$ 60 million to protect the region’s conservation units. This program, which is supported by the Chico Mendes Biodiversity Conservation Institute (ICMBio), of the Ministry of the Environment, encourages the strengthening of conservation units as a way of creating a type of “biodiversity corridorâ€, connecting them.
Turtles – Yellow-spotted turtles, six-tubercled river turtles, or iaçás, and giant South American turtles form part of the management and conservation work carried out by the Turtles of the Amazon Project, developed with the voluntary participation of Juruti’s rural communities. This initiative, and a further three environmental projects, comprise the Integrated Management of Turtles Program, developed by the Juruti community with the National Center for the Management and Conservation of Reptiles and Amphibians (RAN), and with support from Alcoa, Ibama and the Brazilian Association for the Conservation of Turtles (Pró-Tartaruga). The management work carried out at the end of 2008 resulted in the release of 13,800 baby turtles.
ENVIRONMENT CONTROL PLANS
As part of their legal obligations to the licensing body, SEMA (Para Government’s Department of the Environment), there are 35 programs in the Environmental Control Plans (PCAs), with funds available of the order of R$ 30 million. These are socio-economic, biotic, physical and managerial programs that minimize the impact and amplify the undertaking’s positive factors.
Qualification – Among the PCAs, the qualification of labor in Juruti, the objective of which is to prepare local residents for employment not only in the mining segment but also in other areas, is an initiative that has been underway since June 2006. In partnership with the National Industrial Apprenticeship Service (Senai) of Pará, via its Professional Qualification Program, Alcoa has offered qualification courses that have already trained 2,528 professionals. Groups have also been formed that are for preparing mining operatives.
Rural production – As a consequence of the PCAs for almost two years various rural communities from Juruti have been taking part in the fish-rearing program in net-tanks, called “Floating Cagesâ€. This is supported by Alcoa as a way of guaranteeing the consumption and sale of fish, thereby generating employment and income.
In other rural communities the residents have been trained and are working in the Family Farming Program, producing vegetables for their own consumption and for sale. Both fish-rearing and the growing of vegetables are already producing financial results for the communities that sell the produce in the local market and to GRSA, the company that administers the Juruti Mine restaurants.
Furthermore, with traditional communities from the region Alcoa has also carried out a program for valuing and revitalizing their cultural heritage that focuses on art and handicraft products. Craftspeople are given the skills needed for producing pottery and costume jewelry items using resources from the environment. Young people are also included in this work.
Environment – Alcoa’s socio-environmental responsibility, which was always prominent in the Company’s projects, is also very much present in the Juruti Mine undertaking. Researchers from the EmÃlio Goeldi Museum of Para are monitoring the municipality’s fauna and flora, as part of the Environmental Control Plans (PCAs).
This work is assessing the real effects of the presence of the undertaking in the region and what can be done to minimize them. The idea is that this becomes a pilot project and a benchmark for working in the Amazon. Saving the fauna and flora, which is being done by researchers from the Museum, is going to make it possible to study the animals and plants of Juruti in depth.
The Juruti Mine is also monitoring the quality of the air in those areas that fall under its influence. The aim is to evaluate if the construction of the mine is interfering in the quality of the air, particularly in those communities close to the railroad and the PA-257 and PA-192 that have been partially paved, work that was done in partnership with the Municipal Administration and the State Government. Air and water will be permanently monitored during the whole time the mine is in operation.
Soil conservation measures and the protection of water courses are also strictly applied. In the period when the rains are heaviest extra care is taken so that the activities of the undertaking do not affect drainage.
As a result springs have been protected with physical barriers (bags filled with sand from the area) and the application of a “biomatâ€, comprising natural, biodegradable coconut fibers, sisal or other vegetable fibers that protect the soil against erosion and help the development of vegetation. This practice allows the flow of water to be directed and maintains the stability of sensitive areas.
Areas of steeply sloping ground have also received suitable protection, thanks to the application of hydro-sowing over an area of 150 hectares (spraying water mixed with grass seeds and the seeds of other deep-rooting plants which help avoid erosion).
COLLECTIVE COMPENSATION
Because the undertaking’s railroad runs through the Socó I Settlement a series of compensatory actions has been developed by Alcoa in partnership with the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), the Municipal Administration, the Rural Producers’ Association of the Socó I Settlement (APRAS) and partner institutions.
The Collective Compensation Matrix (MCC) brings together 33 actions in the areas of education, leisure, the economy, the environment and infrastructure. As a result of the Matrix those communities that form part of APRAS now have the use of a bus that has solved the problem of how to transport residents and agricultural produce to the center of town.
Three model schools have been handed over, as have soccer fields, the introduction of water supply micro-systems, Amazon wells and improvements in main and by-roads in the region. Recently, also via the MCC,, a Flour House was given to the communities to add agility and quality to their production of cassava flour and derivates; this is of benefit to the settlers who grow this particular root vegetable.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Just as it has been doing in Juruti and in all the other places where it operates Alcoa is investing in social projects that are of benefit to children and young people in Belém. In 2008 funds amounting to R$ 450,000 were donated to the community projects of three entities in the Para capital: the Salesian Ladies Association, the Curro Velho Foundation and APANA (Parents and Friends of the Azulina Swimming Club).
The projects focus on strengthening regional arts and crafts, in an interchange between Belém and Juruti; citizenship through social assistance and preventing crime; and support for young swimmers, including Belem’s needy children.
The "Puxirum de Curupira" [The Curupira Task Force] of the Curro Velho Foundation combines community work and awareness-building actions relating to sustainable uses for forest resources. The idea is to develop a sustainable culture and one that generates quality of life through work and income. For the Foundation’s superintendent, Valmir Bispo Santos, Alcoa’s investments have made it possible to foster actions in the west of Pará, where the Company is setting up the Juruti Mine. “The west of the state has a lot of cultural diversity and we now have the possibility of being able to develop the potential of local young people through this work of artistic initiation. I believe that with Alcoa’s backing our work will have international recognition and reach.â€
With the funds they have received the Salesian Ladies Association has improved the premises of the Mamãe Margarida Complete Education Center (CEIMMA), a place where, according to the Association’s president, Myriam Freitas Gomes, there is a complete human promotion through educational activities, evangelization, sport, culture, health, citizenship and the entertainment of children and teenagers from the Carlos Marighela Home in Ananindeua, in the Greater Metropolitan area of Belém.
The APANA, on the other hand, selected 200 needy children for scholarships to the Rowing Club’s swimming school. According to the vice president of APANA, Cristina Maria Oliveira Losada Reis, the partnership with Alcoa is resulting in the formation of a new generation of swimmers. “We’re very satisfied with the credibility Alcoa is giving us. Through this initiative the Company is adopting our children. We hope that the fruit of this work will be the formation of great Para swimmersâ€, she says.
About Alcoa
Alcoa is the world leader in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina combined, through its active and growing participation in all major aspects of the industry. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa's businesses to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components including flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, Alcoa also markets Alcoa® wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, and building systems. The Company has been named one of the top most sustainable corporations in the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and has been a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for seven consecutive years. More information can be found at www.alcoa.com.
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