Advice on ToR and governance of the SEA for Minas Gerais State mining plan - Brazil

21 July 2020

In February, the NCEA was asked to act as an independent advisor for the SEA (Strategic Environmental Assessment) for the State Mining Plan of Minas Gerais State in Brazil. In previous years Minas Gerais unfortunately experienced tailing dams failures in the mining industry with a few hundred casualties. Therefore, the ministries of mining and environment are now even more dedicated to develop a sustainable mining plan and consider SEA - which is not (yet) a legal requirement in Minas Gerais - essential in this process.

The NCEA's first advisory report contains several recommendations on both the Terms of References for the SEA and the State Mining Plan and also for the governance of the SEA process. The process will consist of three more phases in which the NCEA will review the scoping approach, interim SEA products and a final independent review.