The digital transformation project BABS 4.0, by Mineração Paragominas, was awarded in the “Management” category during the 21st Brazilian Mining-Metallurgy Industry Excellence Award, which took place in Minas Gerais, on May 21. The Hydro bauxite mine program, located in Paragominas (PA), was recognized for having applied local expertise and institutional resources to tools for assertive decision-making by leaders based on a structured database in real time. Gustavo Lopes, management system manager and Rogério Goulart, quality specialist, received the honor for the company. & Nbsp;

“BABS supports a structured routine based on the values of Hydro, providing the manager of Mineração Paragominas with a decision-making process based on consistent information, generating constant process improvements and improving actions with its teams. The award reinforces that we are in total synergy with the best practices and technologies of Industry 4.0 ”, comments Gustavo Lopes.

BABS 4.0 (Bauxite and Alumina Management System, in Portuguese) uses Office 365 to automate all data flow through digital forms and an intelligent database system with cloud connectivity and the use of Power BI . All corporate reports, in this way, are consolidated in real time. The BABS system of Mineração Paragominas applies seven concepts widely used in industry 4.0 for the excellence of its operation: process automation, systems integration, internet of things, cyber security, data in the cloud, data analysis and Big Data.

Sustainability

The industrial director of Mineração Paragominas, Evilmar Fonseca, also made a presentation focusing on sustainability for bauxite mining during the “Workshop on Cost Reduction at the Mine and Plant 2019”, which took place in parallel to the award. The executive highlighted the Mined Area Recovery Program (PRAD) < / a> of the company, which aims to restore plowed regions with formation and integration of ecosystem and biodiversity. Through different reforestation techniques, more than 2,200 hectares have been recovered in the region since 2009, when the project was started.

Fonseca also reinforced the relevance of the Biodiversity Research Consortium Brazil -Norway , which is composed of the University of Oslo, Norway, and its Brazilian partners Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Universidade Federal do Pará and Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, in addition to Hydro. The consortium's scope is to create a research program connected to the company's mining operations in Paragominas.

Since the establishment of the BRC in 2013, 26 projects have been approved and in progress, which generated, among other results, the production of 9 master's theses and 30 research papers. Discoveries of new species of fish, wasps, bedbugs, fungi and lichen have been recorded. The projects are developed and serve as a subsidy for theses and dissertations for academics from Brazil and other countries, such as Norway and Estonia. About 155 researchers, advisors, technicians and students are involved in all of the Consortium's research programs.

“Mining operations must be in complete synergy with the promotion of biodiversity and technology to improve the monitoring of flora and fauna, in addition to reforestation techniques. BRC's academic partnerships and scientific studies are the basis for the sustainable recovery of mined areas. In addition, it allows us to contribute to the development of science in the area of sustainability and to make our actions more transparent. Another important aspect is our goal to increasingly promote the inclusion of communities in our activities, providing interaction, dialogue and visits to the mine ”, concludes Evilmar.

International Event

BABS 4.0 was also the topic of the panel “Digital Transformation Applied to Bauxite and Alumina Business System”, held on May 22, during the second edition of the Future Aluminum Forum, in Poland. The presentation was made by Israel Rocha, a quality specialist at the bauxite mine. The Future Aluminum Forum took place in the Polish city of Warsaw and provided networking and exchange of expertise among specialists from Industry 4.0 with a focus on technologies that are being implemented particularly in the aluminum production chain.