Serrote Project is the opening of an open pit mine and the implementation of a plant for ore beneficiation, and copper concentrate production.

Mineração Vale Verde is implementing Serrote Project, whose objective is to open and open pit mine for ore beneficiation, aiming at producing copper concentrate.

The expectation is to mine around 4.1Mton annually. Serrote Project estimate life of mine is approximately 20 years, but ongoing mineral surveys may extend this term during project implementation. Beneficiation plant will house crushing, grinding, flotation, and filtering equipment.

Copper is one of the most widely used metals in the world, only behind iron and aluminum. Malleable, recyclable, corrosion and high temperature resistant, it is mainly used in the electrical industry, as it is an excellent heat and energy conductor. Some of its applications are in power generation and transmission, wiring and electronics such as televisions and cell phones, as well as electric cars.

In addition to that, copper is a biostatic material: copper surfaces and doorknobs are used in hospitals to prevent the spread of germs, and copper sulfate is used as a fungicide.

• Excellent heat and electrical conductor, as construction material, kitchen utensils, decorative objects, and as several metal alloys component.
• Copper played an important role in History: there is evidence of copper being used by ancient civilizations. During the Roman Empire, copper was extracted from the Cyprus Islands. This is the origin of the metal name Cyprium, “metal of Cyprus”, later it changed to Cuprum.
• Nowadays, one of the main uses of copper is in the making of electrical cars, consuming about 75kg (average weight of a human being), three times more than a common car.