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Mining, an important economic activity in the state of Minas Gerais, generates a large amount of tailings. Currently, there are several technologies for the disposal of these tailings, but the disposal in dams remains the most used, despite the history of disruption of these structures. The environmental licensing process for mining activities requires the preparation of studies of technological alternatives for the project, in order to select the one with the best environmental feasibility. The objective was to evaluate the approach of technological alternatives for disposal of tailings from licensed mining enterprises in the state of Minas Gerais. For this, 13 projects were selected whose environmental licenses were approved between 2017 and 2019. It was verified if the Environmental Impact Studies met legal criteria and good environmental practices in the selection of alternatives. It was observed that only four projects addressed studies of technological alternatives, but none of them met all the analyzed criteria. Bias in the proposition of alternatives, lack of basis and reference of data in the choice process, prevalence of economic aspects over environmental ones and lack of justification in the selection of technology were verified in most cases. The disposal of waste by dry stacking, considered an environmentally viable technique, was selected by seven projects. However, five projects still decided to dispose in dams. In general, the studies analyzed were limited to describing the technology that one wanted to license. Only with a strategic approach would the selection process for alternatives be properly addressed, thus proposing solutions before each individual project is submitted for environmental licensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a Survey research, according to Babbie (1999), developed in November 2018, by the team of Socioambiental Projetos Ltda., whose data collection was done through the use of online questionnaires, by Google Forms. The objective of the study was to draw an overview of the application of Environmental Education(EE) in the scope of environmental licensing in Minas Gerais, after the publication of the Normative Deliberation of the Environmental Policy Council of Minas Gerais - COPAM No. 214, of April 26th, 2017, from the perception of the Environmental Educators of the State of Minas Gerais. The paper presents key questions that allow to analyze critically the situation of the Environmental Education, besides allowing a deepening of the questions related to its improvement, especially in relation to the Participative Socio-Environmental Diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study deals with the environmental regularization of mining activities in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, where such activities exhibit prominent economic, social and environmental importance. The main environmental rules and data from the licensing system are analyzed, focusing on the post-licensing stage, when the system is partially hampered due to insufficient technical assessment and nonsystematic inspection of the impacting activities by the environmental authorities. A preliminary assessment of the changes introduced in the environmental system in the last five years is also made, and comprise: the regional decentralization of the licensing system - and of the environmental management as a whole -, with eight regional offices, and the institution of the declaratory authorization for environmental operation of minor enterprises with potentially less degrading activities, in substitution of the traditional licensing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]