Vale: Coal dust remains “major environmental challenge” in Mozambique

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Vale: Coal dust remains “major environmental challenge” in Mozambique

5:30 CAT | 09 Oct 2020

in file CoM

Vale mining company recognised today that the emission of coal dust is “one of the major environmental challenges” of its opencast mining in Mozambique, but said it has made “major investments in technology to reduce the impact”.

“This [pollution] is one of our major environmental challenges, and the company is aware of it,” Maurício Simbine, from the Environment department of the Brazilian mining company, said.

Simbine was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a visit by Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Max Tonela to the Vale mine in Moatize district, Tete province, in the western interior of the country.

Simbine said that the months of September, October and November routinely registered a “more critical situation” in terms of coal dust emissions from coal production, because they represented the ‘windy season’ in the region.

“Mining activity has an inherent emission of dust, but the intensity with which this happens varies according to the season, the day and the climatic conditions,” he said.

Simbine did not give figures for the amount of emissions that the company produces, but said that the company had installed an air quality monitoring network around the company’s facilities.

“This is state-of-the-art equipment, which measures and continuously monitors the emission of coal dust,” Simbine explained.

While pollution continues to be a major drawback of the company activities, emissions have been significantly reduced due by the introduction of dust containment technology, Simbine stressed.

“We have installed a water sprinkler system, which is activated periodically for mitigation,” he said.

The system is installed at several points which are the source of dust, he added.

Moatize administrator Maria Torcida said that the [dust] emission control technology that Vale introduced eliminated “the [coal] dust waves” that were regularly seen in Moatize, and also reduced concerns about the impact of the company’s activity.

“The population feels that the company is making a great effort, the company is doing its best,” Torcida said.

The Moatize administrator pointed out that a health survey was carried out on 10,000 residents, and no disease resulting from pollutants were detected, although health complications associated with other diseases were diagnosed.

Source: Lusa