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After starting the sustainable sand production phase at the Viga mine, in the Minas Gerais region, the mining company Vale is now testing the use of the product in place of natural sand, ensuring more sustainability for the sector.
The mining company Vale has its sustainable sand production expansion plan in full swing at the Viga mine, located in the Congonhas region, in the state of Minas Gerais. This is one of the company's alternatives to expand ESG practices in the field of mining and industry and ensures a minimization of environmental impacts when replacing natural sand.
The start of production of sustainable sand at the Viga mine took place at the beginning of the second half of the year by the mining company Vale, which is expanding operations at the moment
In order to give more visibility to ESG practices in the mining sector and in the application in the industrial sector, the mining company Vale started the production of its sustainable sand at the Viga mine in the beginning of the second half of this year, 2022.
The structure's processing capacity is 200 tons of raw material per year and the company is now returning its investments to reach the production mark of 80 tons in 2022, expanding to 185 tons throughout 2023.
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This product is obtained through the processing and treatment of iron ore residues and is one of the company's big bets to ensure more sustainability in the national mining sector, replacing the use of natural sand, obtained from seabeds and rivers.
Thus, the operations manager of the Viga mine plant, Jean Menezes, commented that “Due to the geological characteristics of the mine and the applied mineral processing technology, we developed a coarser sand, with a low presence of fine particles in the material, and a high of purity, having in its composition between 89% and 98% of silica and less than 7% of iron”.
The mining company Vale has already made progress on the sustainable sand project and has begun testing the use of sustainable sand produced at the Viga mine with concrete and mortar producers in the Southeast region. With sustainable sand flow between the states by rail, taking advantage of the existing logistics on site. This disposal process is carried out by means of railroads and the sustainable sand then manages to take the mining company's sustainability to other states outside Minas Gerais as well.
Mina Viga is the company's second structure to carry out sustainable sand production and guarantees the mining company a high potential for exploiting the resource
The Viga mine, located in the region of Congonhas, in the state of Minas Gerais, is the second plant of sustainable sand production by the mining company Vale in Brazil, following the highest standards of quality and production efficiency.
In addition to it, the resource is also in production at the Brucutu mine, in São Gonçalo do Rio Baixo, which processed 250 thousand tons of material last year, an expressive number for the mining company's operations.
For the year 2022, Vale intends to reach the mark of 1 million tons of sustainable sand produced at the Brucutu mine and, following the expansion in 2023, the company expects to double this final amount.
Each ton of sand produced represents one ton less of waste being disposed of in piles or dams, contributing to the minimization of environmental impacts in national mining.
Vale now continues to invest in expanding the production capacity of sustainable sand in the state of Minas Gerais and seeks to make Brazilian mining increasingly committed to ESG practices and the global environmental agenda.
