TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Recently rebranded Brazilian miner Nexa Resources is at the forefront of innovating in the mining industry with progressive policies and innovative technologies, an audience attending the keynote session during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada's 2018 convention has heard.

Nexa, previously known as Votorantim Metais Holding, operates five mines in two countries and it operates the largest zinc smelter in Peru.

Company president and CEO Tito Martins stressed the importance of adopting a new industry-wide approach to an industry that is slow and untrusting of innovative ideas. This is indeed the reason why the company changed its name, to better reflect a renewed focus on technology.

According to Martins, the industry had, in the past, done itself a significant disservice by solely focussing on maximising shareholder value at any cost. The industry left in its wake a trail of destruction and often left ghost towns when the cyclical market realities of extreme highs and lows kicked in.

"Now, the world has changed and the way things were done in the past is just not good enough anymore. Miners have to do the 'right thing'," he stressed.

This entails an increased focus on greener initiatives and wellness. Increased interconnectivity through the Internet and increased access to technological innovation has required a paradigm shift from the old, to the new.

"The way we proceed from now on is completely different than before. It affects all stakeholders. We've been the bad guys for too long," he said, noting that the negative perception of the old way of doing business had even become entrenched in popular film culture thanks to Canadian filmmaker James Cameron's depiction of the mining industry as the villain in blockbuster films such as Avatar and Alien.

Martins noted that miners keep believing in the paradigm that mining is good. However, the public often perceives it – smartphone in hand – as bad, nonessential and destructive for the environment. The perception of mining in the public sphere has even deteriorated in recent years in traditional mining countries such as Brazil and Peru, and was not helped by significant mining disasters such as the Samarco iron-ore tailings dam failure of December 2015.

"The fact is it impacts everyone on every level, including governments, local communities, investors and financial institutions".

A NEW APPROACH
Martins suggests the industry should adopt a new approach that entails maximising shareholder value by applying intelligent extraction technologies and mining responsibly. The key is to communicate better with all stakeholders, he stressed.

"As miners integrate sustainability across their businesses, communication is key. Tell the host communities how your operation is reducing the environmental and societal impacts, how the mining operation will bring long-lasting and relevant legacies to local communities and how the company is improving locals' quality of life," he advised.

He pointed to actions Nexa had taken to implement eco-efficiency, with a vision to reducing tailings to zero. To accomplish this, the company has implemented strategies to reduce water use at its operations, reducing the impact of its water use on host communities and seeking to use alternative sources of water in the arid regions it operates in, such as making use of desalination in Peru.

At the Cerro Lindo zinc mine, in Peru, the operation runs 100% off desalination, with water efficiencies allowing for up to 91% of process water to be recirculated.

It has also sought to leverage efficiencies in tailings management, resorting to selling zinc-in-soils products as fertilisers, thereby diverting materials from the waste stream.

He noted that the industry nowadays has to contend with a new range of stakeholders including nongovernmental organisations, academia, society and clients.

The reality is that permitting processes are increasing in complexity and cost, and adding to extended timelines and project uncertainty. In many cases, labour costs are also ballooning.

As miners have to search further and deeper to find new economic resources, it also places them in the crosshairs of environmental activists, and the search inevitably leads closer to populated areas and protected lands, while the generally lower-grade nature of new deposits require bigger processing plants to produce the same output.

Critically, he stressed that decommissioning plans have become exceptionally relevant and require great investments. The post-exploitation legacy must be aligned with local community needs. There can never again be a situation where a miner implements unilateral decisions.

"We need to behave ourselves and communicate properly about who we are and the benefits to society. We should not tolerate negligence by any member of the mining industry."

He suggested that the global mining industry perhaps take a cue from Brazil's booming agricultural sector, where people are exceedingly receptive of the industry. The positive public perception was also boosted by significant print and broadcast government-funded marketing campaigns proclaiming 'Agro is pop', which had "helped tremendously" to win community support, Martins stated.