The Environment
Imerys and the Environment
Continuous improvement of environmental performance and sustainable development is an important commitment undertaken by the Company. In the Imerys Group, each unit is accountable for the management that is suitable for the type of operation developed in its area, as long as basic rules are complied with, such as:
Identify risks to the environment in each location and avoid, minimise or rectify any harmful effects to the environment resulting from an industrial activity.
Guarantee, as a minimum, compliance with the environmental laws and regulations in effect.
Imerys verifies implementation of its environmental standards through regular internal and external audits, which are included in the Company's global business risk policy.
Mine Recuperation:
The mined-out areas are permanently revegetated. Imerys RCC also recuperates those areas degraded by third parties prior to the installation of its facilities.
Imerys RCC has the strong conviction that sustainable economic growth in closely related to the responsibility towards the environment.
The Company has a nursery with 12 thousand seedlings of 45 species to be used in this work of recuperating degraded areas. From the very beginning of this Program, roughly 40,000 seedlings have already been planted, 5,100 of which in 2007 alone.
Recycling water:
Water is one of the most precious assets of the Amazon and the World. It is indispensable for life and also essential for the activities of Imerys. Kaolin beneficiation requires large amounts of water.
For this reason, the Company built catchment basins that act like dams and are required for the Company’s water supply. These ponds are filled with water and small amounts of unused kaolin. While this smaller amount of kaolin settles, the water above it is pumped to be re-used in the process. Today, 85% of the water used in our process is recycled and comes from the tailing ponds. This recycling process represents significant environmental gain, since it prevents collection of large amounts of new water from rivers and wells.
Without this, Imerys would have to increase water intake from nature by more than 80%, making it unfeasible from the environmental viewpoint. The system also aims at separating the kaolin that can still be used and adds more life to the ponds.
Treatment of Tailings:
When you use water to wash your car or your dishes, you generate residues. This happens in many human activities. In industry this is no different. Of course, in this case, because of the scale of volume, the liquid that returns to nature receives a level of treatment that is proportional to the quantity of it. Get to understand how this works at Imerys:
Imerys RCC has five tailing ponds used in kaolin beneficiation. The new ponds have been built under the supervision of a world-class specialist. All of them received a special ‘lining’, unprecedented in the kaolin industry. An impermeable, high-density geomembrane used in the inner part of the ponds, which insulates and protects the soil, thus preventing seepage.
In addition to this, the pond walls also get an external covering: a coconut fiber mat, with plant cover, called ‘biomantle’, which stabilizes the soil, prevents erosion and provides protection against sun heat.
After going through a process of clarification and pH correction, the effluent turns into water, essentially. This effluent, which is non-toxic to aquatic life and has no adverse effects on human health, is discharged into the Pará River, in Barcarena, in compliance with all legal parameters.
