Can you introduce Synergia Consultoria  Socioambiental?

Synergia Consultoria was founded eighteen years ago. We offer environmental services focused on the social component. Environmental and social aspects are interrelated; mining companies cannot address environmental issues without linking them to social variables.

There is an increasing demand for social communication and dialogue, environmental education, and resettlement services from mining companies. We also prepare socio-economic studies and patrimonial reports necessary for licensing processes. In addition, we support mining companies in the areas of emergency prevention to environmental and social rehabilitation. For rehabilitation, we provide technical advice to our clients to help communities rebuild their productive base or implement socio-economic projects.
It is also important for us to objectively measure the impact of the social investments of our clients, especially ESG investments. To this end, we use advanced data analysis tools and territorial studies using qualitative and quantitative methods. These analytical tools enable mining companies to have a strategic vision of how their social investments are related to the social projects' performance.

What are the main demand trends in the Brazilian mining industry?

We noticed an increase in demand for our services following the dam accidents in Mariana and Brumadinho. These events caused  an extremely severe environmental impact in the surrounding communities. In consequence, federal legislation now requires mining companies to formulate stricter contingency plans for dam failures.

To meet the growing demand, we divided our service offering into three phases: Prevention, Emergency Response, and Remediation.  As remediation projects tend to be long-term, we are still working on projects related to incidents that occurred in 2022, and these represent a significant portion of our revenues in 2023.     We are seeing a change in mentality among mining companies, they no longer view ESG criteria solely as a prerequisite for obtaining mining licenses, they are now considered key corporate objectives.

Why is it important for mining companies to consider social return on investment?

Mining companies plan their social investments before the licensing phase, and it is very important for them to define the investments according to the reality and social dynamics of the local communities. In this sense, we work with mining companies considering the costs and the social return on investment.

Water and social carbon are two issues of increasing concern to the mining industry, and we are already working in these areas. Social carbon consists of quantifying the actions taken by companies to address social harm or to preserve a specific area or the culture of local communities. Social carbon, then, is a carbon credit that companies earn by helping indigenous communities preserve their culture. We recognized that it is possible to convert our culture preservation projects into social carbon credits, and now this is a solution we are offering to the mining industry.

How does Synergia Consultoria Socioambiental use technology to predict contingencies and analyze the impact of socioenvironmental investments?

Over the years, we have developed SIS Pesquisa, an artificial intelligence system capable of integrating secondary databases with complex social and economic family registers, geographically referenced data, and other indicators about fieldwork which we collect in real-time with other systems.  SIS Pesquisa helps us to design our solutions according to the specific needs of each client.

Our data collection and processing system, SIS Pesquisa, allows our multidisciplinary group of professionals to focus on the analytical aspects and work closely with our clients, instead of doing all the data collection manually.

How has the environmental regulatory framework changed in recent years?

I believe that environmental regulations in Brazil are increasingly focused on protecting the environment and preserving traditional communities and water sources.  Most mining companies anticipated this tendency and are avoiding the use of tailings dams.

On the other hand, the discussion on the regulatory framework has been reignited due to the recent change of government in Brazil and the public debate. In this context, mining companies must adapt to the political situation and adopt a more comprehensive approach to the conservation and economic reparation of local communities and the environment.

What are the main goals of Synergia Consultoria Socioambiental for the next two years?

We aim to continue working on the development and application of technological innovations to offer new solutions. Another goal is to continue adding value to companies' investments, for example, by helping them acquire social carbon credits through our projects.

Brazil is one of the countries with the greatest social inequality. We therefore play an important role in promoting the economic development of local communities living in the areas where mining is carried out.