Social Responsibility

On the community relations side, Tronox has been developing its ‘Best Age’ project in the city of Areias, state of Bahia, since March 2013. The project was intended for people over-40 years old, however only women have joined, including some not from the initial age range. A total of 47 women aged from 24 to 78 enrolled for weight loss, wellness, treatment and control of chronic diseases, enhanced functionality for everyday life, socialization and other activities.

Training sessions conducted by physical education professionals include stretching exercises, strengthening muscles and walking. Waist circumference and blood pressure are checked periodically to monitor participants’ evolution.

For nine years, Tronox’s Reading Club has helped to kindle interest in reading for children and young people in the communities of Areias, Jauá and Arembepe, state of Bahia. In 2016, 249 club meetings recorded 10,572 attendances.

In addition, extra activities at partner education institutions totaled another 985 students served.

Tronox’s Reading Club works on three aspects:

a) reading sessions on club premises;

b) activities at partner public schools; and

c) teacher training.

The club’s wide-ranging program includes storytelling sessions and cultural and literacy activities (screening films, music, free reading, writing workshops, drawing and painting, theatrical performances, and others).

Continuing on the same lines since the Club started, attendees were instigated to think about environmental issues through activities developed with monitors in 2016.

We are particularly focusing on communication programs for neighboring communities around our plant in Bahia by holding meetings and taking part in community councils, in addition to our Open Doors visitation program, our website tronox-al.com.br and our toll-free line 0800 284 9114.

In 2016, our Open Doors program welcomed 382 visitors from Salvador’s metropolitan region and even from other states. On 26 of these occasions during the year, visitors got a chance to take a close look at Tronox’s environmental and social activities as well as our industrial process. All these initiatives taken in partnership with the community ensure compliance with the plant’s operating license requirements.

The Open Doors program is also ongoing at our mine in the state of Paraíba. Its purpose is to build transparent relationships with employees, families and communities, as well as students, teachers and professionals interested in our practices. The mine’s visitor program started in 1995 and has now involved over 7,118 people (240 in 2016).

Our mine in the state of Paraíba organized its third annual Junior Safety Agent activity. The project was started in 2014 to set up a virtuous circle in relation to safety in the workplace and elsewhere.

By seeing and learning about our safety-first culture, employees’ and contractors’ children can make these new habits part of family life and reinforce parents’ awareness of the need for safety in homes and workplaces. In 2016, a total of 21 children aged 6 to 12 accepted our invitation to spend a whole day at the mine under the supervision of a group of volunteers, taking part in practical educational and recreational activities that showed them how and why we should ensure safe behavior down to the smallest details of our lives.

Our environmental education program is held at the mine’s Environmental Research Base, where students and teachers learn about preserving the environment, observing local fauna and flora and ecological treks. Since the program started in 1996, 9,022 students and 728 teachers have visited the environmental protection area.

In 2016, our Mined Areas Recovery program arranged to plant 11,487 seedlings (totaling 1,664,272 since the program started). In the course of the year, 37.18 hectares were recovered to make a total of 558.93 hectares. Ten families from the rural area of the town of Mataraca (state of Paraíba) are directly involved in the production of native seedlings, an activity that generates jobs and income too.

In 2016, these families supplied 79% of the seedlings required for the program.

In 2016, our Process Water Reuse program achieved a new record level of 94% reuse of effluent from wet beneficiation plants which is used to top up the level of the dredging complex’s operational lake – reuse has led to a 12% reduction in the volume of “new” water for the mine’s supplies piped from the abstraction source on the Guajú river.

In 2016, a Tronox mine in the Paraíba state reaped the benefits from the installation of a sectorized measuring system for potable water consumption as well as its campaigns educating people to use water responsibly. As a result, consumption fell more than 40% from its historical average