Green metal: an ethnography of contested metal extraction from mining tailings

Talk by Carolina Suzuki de Matos, Danish Institute for International Studies.

Mining and metallurgy enterprises have come under pressure in recent  years to become more sustainable and to manage the waste produced by  their processes. Consequently, the metal industry is seeking new  technologies and more sustainable production methods.  In this context, a new product has emerged: "green steel", produced  without emitting greenhouse gases. In Brazil, the North American company  Boston Metal is entering this new market by building a factory in the  state of Minas Gerais. The company's technology,  Molten Oxide Electrolysis (MOE), was developed to extract high-value  metals and green steel from the tailings of industrial mining using  electrical energy. Through ethnographic research and bibliographical  reviews, this research aims to examine the socio-technical  controversies of this new enterprise and produce an ethnography that  sheds light on its political and technical aspects, as well as the  issues associated with it, such as the environmental impacts of this  technology and its implications for waste management.  The objective is to understand how these projects have been implemented  in the state and how the concept of sustainable development has been  presented by the mining and metallurgical industries. Can mining and  steel production be green?