MINING AND ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING: AN EXPERIMENT IN GREATER SÃO PAULO REGION AND A METHODOLOGICAL PROPOSAL

Abstract

The metropolitan region of São Paulo (MRSP; RMSP in Portuguese), totalling 8,053km², comprises 38 municipalities and an estimated population of 13 million inhabitants (1985), where land development increases at an average annual rate of 50km². The attempts to plan the growth of this metropolitan region led, in 1967, to the establishment of the Executive Group of Metropolitan São Paulo (EGMSP; GEGRAN in Portuguese), which worked out the Metropolitan Plan for Integrated Development (MPID; PMDI in Portuguese), the initial steps for the Metropolitan Planning and Administrative System (MPAS; SPAM in Portuguese; Macedo, 1985 a). Arising out of the existent conflicts between the mining activities and other uses of the land/soil and taking into account the MPID, the “Mining Guiding Plan for the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo” was worked out. In this case, planning means to organize the land area modifications so as to accommodate its different uses. The modifications implying economic and aesthetic adjustments must take into account a minimal move of earth, the maintenance of the existent drainage, the utilization of the existent vegetation and landscape features. Some factors must be considered: - first, there are two different activities involved in mining - the extraction of the material/ore and its processing; both activities have to be coordinated so as to prevent future interference in the outcoming landscape; - second, there are the storing operations of the material/ore and the waste/burden; - third, the mining activity will certainly go on for a long time, so future chance incidents cannot be foreseen. A plan combining mining and development, which will be worked out in a sequence of phases, is offered for considerations: 1. study of the area - identification of the elements of the environment and of the operations (extraction and processing); 2. analysis to determine the mutual influence of the features of the area and of the operations; 3. evaluation of the mining development and of the aims of the enterprise; 4. preparation of a master plan, including all previous data; yours elements and analysis, that means the inventory of all elements affecting the planning and the development of the mine which will be outlined on a map identifying localization and features and; the operation - means the identification of earth moving activities, location of permanent facilities (office, processing plant etc.). It will also include operation plans, profiles, landscaping plans etc. With regard to building-sand mining in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, there are some comments on the establishment of criteria for permission which should take into account the type of mine and its exploitation methods.