Hydro Paragominas is the winner of the 23rd Excellence Award of the 2021 Brazilian Metallurgical Industry. Carried out by Minérios e Minerales Magazine, the award is given annually with the objective of valuing the initiatives developed in the mineral industry. The jury is independent and made up of academics and market experts.

Also winner in 2020, Hydro won with two cases in this edition of the award: “Applying the sanitary protocol against Covid-19 at Hydro Paragominas” and “Procedure for deactivation of the water dam with geotechnical and environmental control and monitoring”. The event featured digital panels on dam and tailings treatment, crushing and grinding, industrial maintenance, mining, underground mine, technologies and processes, and environment and safety.

The case "Procedure for deactivating a water dam with geotechnical and environmental control and monitoring" was produced by the geotechnical, environment and mine infrastructure teams, with the assistance of the work safety team. An effort that involved more than 60 people throughout the process to complete the deactivation, completed in 2019. With the objective of deactivating the water accumulation dam, the B7 weir, the team worked on recovering the flooded areas. The entire process involved six steps with the preparation of the plan, cutting of the slope, revegetation of the slope with grass on board, fauna rescue, in addition to geotechnical and environmental inspections.

In the project “Applying the sanitary protocol against Covid-19 at Hydro Paragominas”, actions were developed with the objective of ensuring the continuity of activities at the plant, preserving the safety of all employees. Hydro Paragominas created a crisis committee for Covid-19, with an action plan that remains in effect for the duration of the pandemic. Among the more than 50 procedures developed are medical and social support, with medical guidance for managers and employees, the creation of a medical triage center and psychosocial support for employees with evaluation and referral for treatment, in addition to mass testing. To answer other questions, a 24-hour health center with telemedicine assistance was created.

Following the sanitary protocols of the health authorities, the capacity of workstations and cafeterias was reduced and the use of teleworking mode and the removal of people from the risk group were adopted with the maintenance of jobs and benefits and the use of UV technology for disinfection of the locations.

The 23rd Mining and Metallurgical Industry Excellence Award was held on September 8, with the participation of representatives from Hydro Paragominas.