Brazil Steel Institute

Besides its steelmaking activities, SINOBRAS undertakes a commitment to the Environment, planting eucalyptus in its own 12 reforestation farms located in Araguatins and São Bento do Tocantins, in the state of Tocantins. This way, the company invests in the preservation of the environment and in quality of life through the SINOBRAS Florestal Reforestation Program. Thanks to this program, SINOBRAS is the company with the largest reforestation activity in Tocantins, as acknowledged by the Secretary of Agriculture, Farming and Food Supply – SEAGRO/TO. Among various actions, such as reforestation, employee training and generation of jobs and income, SINOBRAS Florestal works focused on a Sustainability Program aimed to the self-sufficiency of the mill in vegetable coal by 2014.

The Company has approximately 24 ha of own land, with 14,000 ha already planted in the farms. The work developed within the program has resulted in 16 million new trees. SINOBRAS Florestal uses eucalyptus seed stocks (clones), best suited to the region and to the final product, and works based on productivity control of each reforested area.

Structured for forestry activity, the program’s farms provide 120 km of roads inside their properties, lodging facilities, restaurants, employee transportation, energy generators, warehouses for raw materials, repair shops and operational equipment. SINOBRAS Florestal also has a Fire Brigade, the two only Forest Fire Surveillance Towers in the State, a Meteorological Station, besides an ambulatory and a fully-equipped ambulance.

Before every legal deforestation, the animals in the area are captured by a team hired and released in the farm’s preserved area, corresponding to nearly 9,000 ha. One of these permanent preservation areas is the Salt waterfall, in the São Martinho farm (TO).

SINOBRAS Florestal also performs the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) and the Environmental Impact Report (RIMA) prior to cultivating a new area, as well as other legal procedures, such as:

• Soil Alternative Use Permit;
• Previous License;
• Installation License;
• Forest Exploitation Permit;
• Forest Compliance Certificate;
• Operations License;
• Controlled Burning Permit.

The SINOBRAS reforestation farms generate approximately 510 direct jobs and 1,000 indirect, developing workers’ dignity and contributing to the social-economic increment of the region. Engaged in humanization, the Company is a partner of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and member of the Citizen Coal Institute (ICC), responsible for orienting, assisting and inspecting all activities related to the production chain of vegetable coal. The entity also works in the enforcement of the labor legislation, workers’ health and safety norms and in the preservation of the workplace environment. At the ICC, SINOBRAS participates in the project to hire workers rescued by the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE) from regimes analog to slavery

Still within the forestry-base program, SINOBRAS participates in the Carajás Forestry Fund, as one of its founders. Created in 2007, the Fund is managed by an independent institution and fiscalized by the Brazilian SEC. SINOBRAS places in the Fund US$ 3 (three US dollars) per ton of pig iron exported, aiming to the promotion of the development of reforestation projects.

For further information regarding actions by SINOBRAS, visit the company’s website.