Alunorte's independent environmental assessment was part of the actions announced by Hydro on Monday, March 5, in response to the challenging situation in Alunorte, where the authorities imposed several measures against Alunorte due to concerns that a period of Intense rains led to damaging spills in adjacent areas, including the nearby Pará river.

Among these measures by federal, state and local authorities, Alunorte was forced to reduce production by 50% and suspend operations in the DRS 2 bauxite waste deposit area.

The purpose of SGW's assessment is to assess whether Alunorte's water and effluent management system was operated in accordance with the project specifications, applicable permits and legislation and the relevant internal and external requirements. The assessment will focus especially on all Alunorte disposal points for the external environment and will specify any irregularities or gaps identified.

To guarantee the strict deadline, SGW's independent review will be carried out in two phases. The first phase will cover the whole of Alunorte, except for the deposits of bauxite residue in the first period set for the first week of April, while the second phase, including the deposits, has a delivery period at the end of April.

SGW is an environmental consultancy based in São Paulo formed by a multidisciplinary team of specialists with comprehensive technical knowledge and experience in environmental projects in Brazil and Latin America.

Hydro is the largest aluminum company in South America after acquiring the aluminum assets of the Brazilian mining company Vale in the north of the state of Pará in 2011. Alunorte is the largest alumina refinery in the world, employs around 2,000 people and has a nominal capacity of 6.3 million tons per year. Hydro owns 92.1% of Alunorte.