Hydro signs agreement with UFPA to improve operations in Barcarena and Paragominas

Hydro on Monday announced the signing of an agreement with the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). The agreement will lead to research to improve operations in Barcarena and Paragominas, as well as community development there.

On May 31, Hydro’s companies in Brazil - Mineração Paragominas, Alunorte and Albras - signed agreements with UFPA. The next step will be a workshop between company professionals and researchers to define lines of inquiry, Hydro said.

Hydro's director of sustainability, Domingos Campos, said: "A company like ours cannot advance without the support of the academy. Only with the engagement of all society - government, citizens, universities and companies – we can have sustainable and lasting operations in Pará."

Campos said the agreements represent a range of opportunities in researching and developing new technologies.  

For the Dean, Emanuel Tourinho, the agreement establishes an environment of collaboration between the university and the industrial sector.

"We have in UFPA a structure of production of knowledge about the Amazon region that’s very valuable and indispensable to leverage the state's productivity. It is important to integrate the two perspectives - technological and social - so that this production generates both wealth and income, and a living condition for the peoples of the Amazon, which guarantees them citizenship and access to fundamental rights," Tourinho said.

"We know the importance of Hydro's work in the state, so this partnership is valuable. We want the knowledge produced by the Pará researchers to be incorporated into the decision-making processes on investments in the state," added Tourinho.