Inside the Brazil mine with environmental stewardship at the centre

Last updated: 18 February 2026

Opinion piece from Seb, our General Manager of Communications for Aluminium and Lithium, on how Brazil’s largest bauxite producer is restoring forests in mined areas and providing healthcare to rewrite the mining playbook.

Founded in 1979, MRN operates within the Saracá-Taquera National Forest, a sustainable use conservation area in western Pará, managed by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation.

It’s also Brazil’s largest producer of bauxite, delivering more than 12 million tonnes of bauxite every year and exporting across 3 continents. MRN is a joint venture of which we have a 22% equity stake.

A visit to the Amazon that left me feeling inspired

“If you looked at my travel calendar, you might assume I’d be numb to it all by now. Another airport, another hotel, another site visit. But the truth is, I’m nowhere near bored. And while I sometimes may forget where I am, every trip gives me new stories, new faces and new examples of the remarkable work our people are doing across this industry.

My recent visit to Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN), deep in the Amazon, reminded me why I’ll never tire of this job and why I do what I do.

A place that defies expectations

Mining in the Amazon can spark debate… and it should. That’s healthy. But what I saw at MRN wasn’t a story of extraction; it was a story of commitment. A story of people who see themselves as stewards of a forest they deeply respect.

MRN is a joint venture, in which we have a 22% equity stake, so this isn’t our story alone to tell. But as someone who has visited many operations globally, I can say this with sincerity- MRN’s environmental program is one of the most impressive I’ve seen, and their operational performance is just as strong.

But facts alone don’t convey what’s actually happening on the ground.

What stayed with me

From the moment we arrived, the team treated us not like corporate guests, but like people they genuinely wanted to share their work with. And what they’re doing deserves that spotlight and shows that their role in the region extends well beyond mining:

• Reforestation started from the very beginning of MRN’s operations, and today they restore roughly 350 hectares annually.
• MRN’s hospital provides care to employees and community members, and includes the Projeto Quilombo, which runs a health clinic on a boat that goes up the river to offer primary healthcare services to community members living in remote locations.
• Social programs from education to income generation, like a dedicated school program created to guarantee free access to specialised services for Porto Trombetas children and adolescents with disabilities or in situations of vulnerability.
• A genuine focus on people, sustaining over 6,000 direct jobs, with participatory management, respect for communities and an organisational culture grounded in safety, health and environmental stewardship.
• More than 60 socio-environmental initiatives include developing an environmental education ecosystem, including an eco-school and a thriving biodiversity nursery that supports research, restoration techniques and community learning.
• More than 50 academic theses produced in multiple languages, building scientific knowledge around reclamation, biodiversity, soil, flora, fauna and land use practices.

Then there’s the community work: supporting quilombola and riverine communities and people who chose to return to their roots in the region. You can feel the pride when they talk about the forest, and the responsibility they feel working within it. And that’s what really got me…

The people at the centre of it all

As a communicator, I believe the most powerful stories are human ones. And in Porto Trombetas, those stories were everywhere:

Specialists who grew up nearby and returned home to help restore the forest. Engineers explaining rehabilitation techniques like they were describing an art form. Community members proud of how environmental stewardship and local livelihoods coexist. Leaders determined to prove that responsible mining is not only possible; it’s essential.

Leaving with gratitude

I left MRN inspired. Inspired by the forest, yes, but even more by the people working tirelessly to return what they borrow, and to do it with pride.

As someone who spends his life telling stories, this visit didn’t just give me new material. It reminded me why I tell these stories in the first place: to shine a light on teams doing extraordinary work in places most people will never see for themselves.

And maybe that’s why travel never gets old for me. Every journey — even the ones that blur together on the calendar — has the potential to reveal a story worth sharing.”