In our sustainability journey, we rely on innovation, collaboration and technology on several fronts.
Innovation is in our DNA at Nexa. It permeates our operations end-to-end and supports us in every way in advancing the company’s ESG agenda, with the mission of connecting our needs with the global innovation ecosystem to accelerate the achievement of our environment strategy, social and governance goals.
Furthermore, innovation is essential for achieving operational excellence in our units, for the company’s growth and cost reduction.
We have results and advanced works in projects that change our energy matrix, we have contracts at the beginning of operation for the consumption of mine waste and tailings, and the pace of delivery of productivity and safety projects increases every year. Putting it all together, we have our positive legacy initiatives. These are transversal to the other themes and are focused on creating the bases for an increasingly better future in the places where we operate.
Management
Always looking for continuous improvement to increase our competitiveness and maximize the value of existing operations, we have developed several projects aimed at ensuring operational stability, constant cost improvement, productivity and rationalization of the capital employed.
Technology, automation and innovation are part of the tools to achieve our productivity and competitiveness goals, with a high safety and sustainability level (increased water recycling, reduced CO2 emissions and better use of our resources).
Operational excellence
Our commitment to innovate has always been recognized by relevant awards:
- Most innovative companies – Valor Econômico (Brazil)
We were indicated as an innovation highlight in the Mining, Smelter, and Steel sector by Valor Econômico magazine. We are among the five most innovative companies of 2021, a recognition that directly reflects our innovative work in pursuit of building the mining of the future.
- National Innovation Award (Brazil)
We were finalists in the Innovation Management category of the 2021/2022 edition of the National Innovation Award, the most important recognition in the Brazilian industry. It recognizes companies that implement management processes, methods, techniques and tools to innovate and is an initiative of the Business Mobilization for Innovation (MEI), carried out by the Brazilian Confederation of Industry (CNI) and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE).
- ProActivo Award 2021 (Peru)
We reached third place in the Mining Category, with the Tele-Ultrasound Discoveries in Remote Areas project. The award aims to recognize and distinguish efforts that transcend the transfer of knowledge and contribute to the promotion of sustainable development in an innovative and effective way and with positive effects on society in economic and environmental terms.
Our Actions
Mining Lab
Building a more sustainable mining industry is a strategic aspiration, especially when the subject is innovation. We created the Mining Lab in 2016, a program that aims to foster open innovation and entrepreneurship through challenges related to the mining-smelter sector, together with partners from several sectors.
The platform, being digital, reaps benefits such as agility in communication, more fluidity in connection processes with innovative partners and greater flexibility in carrying out the work.
Innovation actions
Nexa’s innovation actions are divided into four major topics: Productivity and safety; Circular economy; Transformational mining and smelter decarbonization, and Generation of a positive legacy.
We highlight some of the actions we are implementing in our units in Brazil and Peru:
We present below the initiatives based on our investments in innovation and which are in the implementation process or in an advanced testing phase.
A Mining Lap’s initiative which provided a technology aimed at the visually impaired to Nexa, in a portable intelligence and artificial vision device that works offline and must be attached to the stem of the glasses frame, allowing easy, intuitive, and instant access to information available in real-time.
- Slope monitoring by image:
A multidisciplinary project that involved Nexa’s Innovation, Environment, Maintenance, and IT teams and the partner’s team of data scientists and developers. Proof-of-concept activities were carried out in the treatment of images from the monitoring cameras of Barragem das Pedras, in Juiz de Fora (MG), for the assessment of slope stability, the water level of the dam, access of people and vehicles, and growth of vegetation. Evaluation tests are planned for 2022 with the continuous treatment of images obtained by the cameras.
- Bio-oil in Zinc Furnaces:
In 2021, Nexa consolidated the results of industrial tests with bio-oil or biomass pyrolysis oil at the Três Marias unit. We reached the level of 24/7 operation, with stability and maintaining the reduction of energy consumption in the test furnace. The new pilot plant with three furnaces installed at the unit will allow the closing of the industrial test cycle in 2022.
- Iron Concentrate in Vazante:
It plans to obtain more than 100 thousand tons per year of iron concentrate from the material not used in the concentration of zinc ore at the Vazante mine. In 2021, the industrial test plant was established. Between April and November, around 75 tons were produced with contents of up to 60% of contained metallic iron, reaching metallurgical iron recoveries of up to 75%. Samples produced were sent to potential partners and customers, engineering studies were conducted and the environmental license was obtained for the implementation of this process.
- Development of the milk chain in Vazante | Pronatura:
Partnership carried out by Nexa to deal with socio-economic and environmental challenges in rural communities in underdeveloped regions, applying scalable, integrated, and measurable solutions that offer environmental sustainability and the economic independence of communities in the long term.
The initiative is integrated with Vazantes Mineiras project and was designed as the vision for closing the Vazante unit many years in advance. The way of working consists of identifying the local community’s vocation value chains, fundraising, and their development based on ESG values.
- Tejiendo el futuro | Runakay:
Project promoted with communities in Peru close to Nexa’s area of influence. In addition to bringing best practices for the management of alpacas and the extraction of wool fiber for sale, helped to develop the capacity to produce handmade garments for sale with greater economic benefits for breeders. To that end, Cooperativa Pucayacu underwent a series of training sessions to improve the quality of alpaca fiber, incorporating better breeding, health, and shearing practices. They have also been trained to design and develop a handmade line suitable for the quality of the fiber and the market where it will be sold. In addition, they will be instructed in the marketing of their products and in the strengthening of skills in business management and resource management.
