Mineração de ferro e enclave: estudo de caso da companhia Vale do Rio Doce em Itabira

Abstract

The uneasiness of the Itabira community in view of the prospects for the depletion of iron mines, explored by the Vale do Rio Doce Company in the municipality, caused the Itabira City Hall to contract a study from Velloso e Gontijo -Consultoria Empresarial, in 1996, which resulted in the document: "Survey of Economic, Financial and Environmental Losses Suffered by the Itabira Community, Due to the Mining Activity, Carried Out by Companhia Vale do Rio Doce". I was part of the team that prepared this document and I was very touched to see the degree of dependence on the local economy on CVRD's activities. The forecast, not too distant, of interruption of the Company's activities constituted a concrete threat for a population used to survive from the income obtained from their work in the company, or in activities that were sustained by the demands generated, directly or indirectly, by it . When, then, I faced the need to choose a topic to develop in my master's dissertation, I chose to deepen my knowledge about the reality of the iron ore economy, driven by questions, persistent after the completion of that work, regarding the determinations that transformed that activity into a regional enclave maker. The enclave results from the absence of the establishment of chain links between an export activity and the other sectors of the economy in which it is inserted, avoiding promoting self-sustained development, which could result from the introduction of a diversified economic structure that, with its evolution, it would reduce the dependence of the local economy on the activity exporting company. The search for the understanding of an event with these characteristics started from the study of the theories developed about the possibilities of an export activity becoming a trigger for development. The first chapter summarizes the main theoretical constructions related to export economies, in the context of the regional economy, based on the “export base” theory, in which it was thought appropriate to include the activities of Companhia Vale do Rio Doce. Then, it presents Perroux's thought, regarding driving firms and growth poles, recognized in the origin of the uneven development between regions, intrinsically related to the formulations of2 Hirschman, relating to the classification of the potential effects of an economic activity on the region in which it is inserted. From then on, the position of mineral extraction in the Brazilian Input-Product Matrices and the State of Minas Gerais is investigated, with a low linkage power. The chapter ends, dealing with the enclave and presents some studies, where this condition was investigated (saltpeter mining in Chile and mining and steel in Itabirito), in addition to an evaluation of the impacts produced by Usiminas in the Vale do Aço region. The second chapter provides a photographic and evolutionary description of the world iron ore market, by characterizing the products and presenting the size of the world industry and its spatial distribution. It demonstrates the representativeness of international relations, the main countries participating in this market, the role played by the steel industry, whether due to its greater bargaining power in price negotiation rounds, or due to the influence of its technological development on the quality of commercialized products and, finally, it analyzes the domestic ties of the iron ore industry, by demonstrating its characteristic of an outward-looking economy, reflected in regional isolation and in the long export corridors, built for the flow of products.