Eramet, a major player in the mineral sands industry

GCO, a world-class industrial complex:

• The world’s largest dredge (7,000 m3/hour) is connected to a plant floating on an artificial pond measuring 600 metres by 300 metres,
• This plant concentrates mineral sands, while ordinary sand is discharged at the back of the plant to backfill the mine pit,
• The resulting concentrate (MHP) is transported to a nearby plant where the minerals are separated out: ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene and zircon are produced in the form of sands,
• To optimize resource recovery, GCO has invested in a mobile mineral sand recovery unit positioned outside the dredge’s path,
• In order to further decarbonize its products, GCO is investing in a hybrid solar power plant with integrated energy storage.

GCO represents both a genuine technological and human challenge, involving the transmission of skills and the development of local expertise. It is also a major social undertaking as it involves rehabilitating the dunes after the extraction of the resource, and relocating displaced hamlets and villages.

Guided by Eramet’s Human Rights policy, GCO has established direct, ongoing contact with local communities and authorities, which has helped structure expectations of the industrial project. A complaints management mechanism is in place.

Dialogue is also developed in multi-party commissions that include representatives of the communities, regional elected representatives, the State and the company.

The itinerant nature of GCO’s operations on the concession granted by the Senegalese government means that the mine occasionally comes into contact with homes and economic activities. A resettlement plan has thus been put in place, overseen by the prefect of the region concerned, and including representatives of the people affected.

Since 2016, GCO’s social and community relations team has been assisting residents to relocate to new villages created in consultation with communities and authorities. Every aspect of the resettlement (site selection, layout of the new village, its housing and shared infrastructure) is discussed in this public forum, as are the accompanying measures designed to improve income levels: provision of replacement farmland and creation of Economic Interest Groups (EIGs).

• 24 EIGs created, involving 1,400 community members
• 415 work together with GCO
• 6 EIGs are entirely made up of women (437 women)

Market built by GCO

In addition to managing its impacts, GCO has developed a social investment program that contributes to local economic development in 4 areas: support for the local economy, education, health and the environment.

• 70% of GCO purchases are local.

Initiatives are decided upon in consultation with all local stakeholders by means of a tripartite committee (mayors, GCO representatives, local populations and civil society).

Prior to its operations, GCO implements the ARRC principle (avoid, reduce, restore and compensate) in order to reduce the impact of its activities and help preserve biodiversity.

GCO’s dredge moves over the deposit, sucking sand from the dunes and clearing any vegetation beforehand. After its passage, GCO restores the site to a state that is as close as possible to its pre-mining condition – in some cases improving it, thanks to the introduction of a wider range of endemic species selected with the communities for their environmental and economic value. The plants come from GCO’s nursery, which can produce 500,000 plants a year. At the end of the process, which takes several years, GCO returns the revegetated dunes to their owners.

• 85 hectares of revegetated land returned by GCO to the Senegalese government in 2022
• 1^st Senegalese mine to have fulfilled this commitment to the State
• 900 hectares of rehabilitated land will have been returned by 2025

More

Water conservation is part of our commitment to responsible business. For example, GCO does not pump water from the upper water table, which is used by the local population to meet their domestic and agricultural needs, but from the deeper water table, more than 400 m below the surface.

Similarly, GCO recycles the water contained in the non-mineral sand discharged to backfill the mine, via pumping stations located along the mine. The water recovered in this way is then returned to the mine’s pond, with a portion being returned to the upper water table for use by local residents.

Water extraction is subject to a comprehensive monitoring system: deep water levels are continuously monitored using piezometers, and upper water levels are checked daily (the data is shared with the local authorities, who visit the site every month).