Innovation

Innovation, technology and collaboration

In our sustainability journey, we rely on innovation, collaboration and technology on several fronts.

Innovation is in our DNA at Nexa. It permeates our operations end-to-end and supports us in every way in advancing the company’s ESG agenda, with the mission of connecting our needs with the global innovation ecosystem to accelerate the achievement of our environment strategy, social and governance goals.

Furthermore, innovation is essential for achieving operational excellence in our units, for the company’s growth and cost reduction.

We have results and advanced works in projects that change our energy matrix, we have contracts at the beginning of operation for the consumption of mine waste and tailings, and the pace of delivery of productivity and safety projects increases every year. Putting it all together, we have our positive legacy initiatives. These are transversal to the other themes and are focused on creating the bases for an increasingly better future in the places where we operate.

Management

Always looking for continuous improvement to increase our competitiveness and maximize the value of existing operations, we have developed several projects aimed at ensuring operational stability, constant cost improvement, productivity and rationalization of the capital employed.

Technology, automation and innovation are part of the tools to achieve our productivity and competitiveness goals, with a high safety and sustainability level (increased water recycling, reduced CO2 emissions and better use of our resources).

Operational excellence

Our commitment to innovate has always been recognized by relevant awards:

  • Most innovative companies – Valor Econômico (Brazil)

We were indicated as an innovation highlight in the Mining, Smelter, and Steel sector by Valor Econômico magazine. We are among the five most innovative companies of 2021, a recognition that directly reflects our innovative work in pursuit of building the mining of the future.

  • National Innovation Award (Brazil)

We were finalists in the Innovation Management category of the 2021/2022 edition of the National Innovation Award, the most important recognition in the Brazilian industry. It recognizes companies that implement management processes, methods, techniques and tools to innovate and is an initiative of the Business Mobilization for Innovation (MEI), carried out by the Brazilian Confederation of Industry (CNI) and the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE).

  • ProActivo Award 2021 (Peru)

We reached third place in the Mining Category, with the Tele-Ultrasound Discoveries in Remote Areas project. The award aims to recognize and distinguish efforts that transcend the transfer of knowledge and contribute to the promotion of sustainable development in an innovative and effective way and with positive effects on society in economic and environmental terms.

 

Our Actions

Mining Lab

Building a more sustainable mining industry is a strategic aspiration, especially when the subject is innovation. We created the Mining Lab in 2016, a program that aims to foster open innovation and entrepreneurship through challenges related to the mining-smelter sector, together with partners from several sectors.

The platform, being digital, reaps benefits such as agility in communication, more fluidity in connection processes with innovative partners and greater flexibility in carrying out the work.

Mining Lab Beginnings

Seeks customized solutions for persistent challenges that require disruptive ideas. The program is the result of a partnership between Nexa and Escalab (UFMG’s Center for Technology Scaling and Business Modeling) and provides direct interaction between the mining-metallurgical industry and researchers from reference centers.

In the first edition, held in 2021, MLB was focused on a single challenge: search for technological routes for the commercialization of Jarosite (zinc smelter residue), aiming to eliminate its disposal in dams.

2021 Edition Highlights – In this first edition we have:

  • 37 projects submitted
  • 26 participating universities

Learn more about Mining Lab Beginnings and its results at the link below.

Mining Lab Channel

It aims to connect solutions in an agile and uncomplicated way, quickly testing proposals from suppliers and functioning as a global technological radar throughout the yar.

Learn more about the Mining Lab Channel and its results at the link below:

Mining Lab Miningthon

Seeks solutions from the global innovation ecosystem for thematic challenges with a high maturity level or low need for customization, being tested and scaled with greater agility.

Reinforcing Nexa’s inclusion goals, the 2021 Mining Lab Mininghton presented the theme “Inclusive Technologies for People with Disabilities”, which made it possible to learn about a variety of technologies that aim to help Nexa’s employees in their daily lives.

2021 Edition Highlight:

  • 47 projects submitted
  • 14 participating countries

Learn more about the Mining Lab Miningthon and its results at the link below.

Mining Lab Challenge

Seeks solutions from the global innovation ecosystem for thematic challenges with a high maturity level or low need for customization, being tested and scaled with greater agility.

Reinforcing Nexa’s inclusion goals, the 2021 Mining Lab Mininghton presented the theme “Inclusive Technologies for People with Disabilities”, which made it possible to learn about a variety of technologies that aim to help Nexa’s employees in their daily lives.

2021 Edition Highlight:

  • 47 projects submitted
  • 14 participating countries

Learn more about the Mining Lab Miningthon and its results at the link below.

Mining Lab University

Created to foster the academic environment and promote a culture of innovation, through real challenges from the mining and smelter industry to university students. Students receive training such as: design thinking, project management and lectures focused on the central challenge to develop a solution proposal at the end of the program. Therefore, we managed to take Nexa’s daily life to these students and contribute to their academic development.

In 2021, for the first time, we had an international edition through the “Batalla de la Galvanización”, a program to disseminate the main concepts and applications of galvanizing to students of Engineering and Architecture in Latin America. The participating teams generated new ideas and galvanizing applications for the Latin American market, with three being the winners with applications for docks and bus stops in Lima (Peru) and urban garbage collectors in Quito (Ecuador).

We had two lean editions of the Mining Lab University focused on the theme of Circular Economy, in partnership with USP and UNA.

Learn more about Mining Lab University and its results at the link below:

Innovation actions

Nexa’s innovation actions are divided into four major topics: Productivity and safety; Circular economy; Transformational mining and smelter decarbonization, and Generation of a positive legacy.

We highlight some of the actions we are implementing in our units in Brazil and Peru:

Circular economy

Circular economy

  • Ambrosia;
  • Concrete;
  • Pasco cement;
  • Iron concentrate;
  • Acidity regulator;
  • Synthetic granite

Transformational decarbonization of mining and smelter

Transformational decarbonization of mining and smelter

  • Bio-oil in Zinc furnaces;
  • Change in the energy matrix in Cajamarquilla;
  • Self-production with solar plants;
  • Conversion of Diesel Generators to NG;
  • Hydrogen Injection in Automotive Machines;
  • Biodiesel;
  • Decarbonization of the Waelz Furnace.

Positive Legacy Generation

Positive Legacy Generation

  • Value with municipal waste | Collecting solutions
  • Tejiendo el futuro | runakay
  • Development of the milk chain in Vazante | Pronatura
  • Pasco Positive Legacy | Palladium

Productivity and safety

Productivity and safety

  • Checklist scanning;
  • Slope monitoring by image;
  • Accessibility on our sites;
  • Monitoring the location of people;
  • Vision for All;
  • Scanning the energy lockout;
  • Granulometry monitoring with image + AI;
  • Ball mill sensing.

We present below the initiatives based on our investments in innovation and which are in the implementation process or in an advanced testing phase.

  • Vision for All:

A Mining Lap’s initiative which provided a technology aimed at the visually impaired to Nexa, in a portable intelligence and artificial vision device that works offline and must be attached to the stem of the glasses frame, allowing easy, intuitive, and instant access to information available in real-time.

  • Slope monitoring by image:

A multidisciplinary project that involved Nexa’s Innovation, Environment, Maintenance, and IT teams and the partner’s team of data scientists and developers. Proof-of-concept activities were carried out in the treatment of images from the monitoring cameras of Barragem das Pedras, in Juiz de Fora (MG), for the assessment of slope stability, the water level of the dam, access of people and vehicles, and growth of vegetation. Evaluation tests are planned for 2022 with the continuous treatment of images obtained by the cameras.

  • Bio-oil in Zinc Furnaces:

In 2021, Nexa consolidated the results of industrial tests with bio-oil or biomass pyrolysis oil at the Três Marias unit. We reached the level of 24/7 operation, with stability and maintaining the reduction of energy consumption in the test furnace. The new pilot plant with three furnaces installed at the unit will allow the closing of the industrial test cycle in 2022.

  • Iron Concentrate in Vazante:

It plans to obtain more than 100 thousand tons per year of iron concentrate from the material not used in the concentration of zinc ore at the Vazante mine. In 2021, the industrial test plant was established. Between April and November, around 75 tons were produced with contents of up to 60% of contained metallic iron, reaching metallurgical iron recoveries of up to 75%. Samples produced were sent to potential partners and customers, engineering studies were conducted and the environmental license was obtained for the implementation of this process.

  • Development of the milk chain in Vazante | Pronatura:

Partnership carried out by Nexa to deal with socio-economic and environmental challenges in rural communities in underdeveloped regions, applying scalable, integrated, and measurable solutions that offer environmental sustainability and the economic independence of communities in the long term.

The initiative is integrated with Vazantes Mineiras project and was designed as the vision for closing the Vazante unit many years in advance. The way of working consists of identifying the local community’s vocation value chains, fundraising, and their development based on ESG values.

  • Tejiendo el futuro | Runakay:

Project promoted with communities in Peru close to Nexa’s area of influence. In addition to bringing best practices for the management of alpacas and the extraction of wool fiber for sale, helped to develop the capacity to produce handmade garments for sale with greater economic benefits for breeders. To that end, Cooperativa Pucayacu underwent a series of training sessions to improve the quality of alpaca fiber, incorporating better breeding, health, and shearing practices. They have also been trained to design and develop a handmade line suitable for the quality of the fiber and the market where it will be sold. In addition, they will be instructed in the marketing of their products and in the strengthening of skills in business management and resource management.

Read more

Read more about Nexa in the links below

Plurality

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Climate Change

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Use and Disposal of Water

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Health, Safety and Well-being

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Local Development

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