279 In the following decades, the company was privatized and renamed Vale S.A., who has invested in optimizing several plants, and with this, a new window of opportunity has emerged: recover tailings, iron ore waste piles and development of byproducts. Since 2023, more than 150 initiatives were assessed for potential reuse. In an era where society, markets, and environmental concerns demand sustainable solutions, Circular Mining has become a fundamental pillar of Vale’s strategy. 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS 2.1 Program Design Prior to the establishment of the program, circularity initiatives and projects were already present within the company, albeit dispersed across multiple areas and operational units. To optimize efforts, enhance value capture, and strengthen visibility among senior leadership and stakeholders, the Circular Mining Program was formally instituted in 2024 and developed in six stages (Figure 1). Figure 1 – Strategic planning process framework. To examine both internal and external perceptions of circularity in the mining sector, structured interviews were conducted with corporate executives, complemented by benchmarking against peer institutions and industry actors. Subsequently, workshops were organized to establish consensus regarding strategic vision, ambition, value creation potential, governance structures, and change management processes. This stage was critical to ensure that diverse leadership perspectives were integrated into a unified framework capable of guiding large-scale programmatic implementation. Building upon the strategic plan, the program initiated the ideation of new initiatives, including the definition of scope, technical pathways, and potential partnerships. Opportunity mapping was followed by financial valuation of project feasibility. Technical leaders were designated for each value theme, tasked with consolidating leverage hypotheses into a coherent portfolio. Once these hypotheses were validated from social, economic, and environmental standpoints, specialized working groups were convened under the leadership of technical experts to design implementation plans and execution scenarios. The mapping exercise further revealed that several initiatives were already underway across more than 20 Vale mining operations. These mature initiatives were selected as case
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