Mining. Sustainable development. Educommunication. Public policy.

Mining in Brazil is based on a primary-exporting, capital-intensive model that, despite enabling socioeconomic development, concentrates profits and generates great impacts, including vulnerability and economic enclave, especially in mining municipalities. It is necessary to be aware that mineral reserves are exhaustible and considerably impacted by externalities, temporalities and market fluctuations. Therefore, it is important to understand and think of strategies to minimize activity dependence. The State, its spaces and instruments are the most efficient and viable way to protect communities, territories and society from the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. It is through it that it is possible to promote local sustainable development, ensure the legality of the process, resolve conflicts, distribute benefits and safeguard rights, so that society can exercise autonomy in their territories. This study focuses on the iron ore extractive industry, mainly in the state of Minas Gerais, in the Iron Quadrangle (IQ) region. An analysis is carried out on the public policies applied to mining at the three levels of power, municipal, state and federal. At the municipal level, the object of study is the city of Itabirito-MG, a municipality of great importance in the IQ region. The objective is to discuss the importance and possibility of popular participation through edu-communicative practices, in order to contribute to the management of public policies, enabling populations to play a greater role in the communities. The case study of this work analyzes Itabirito socioeconomically and deepens the situation of its district, São Gonçalo do Bação, which has been going through conflicts related to mining in its territory. The data sources for this analysis were in-depth semi-structured interviews and the experience of the Bação Sustentável group. The practical project uses the principles of edu-communication to build and conduct practices in a digital environment, which aims to raise a critical awareness in the community about the impacts of mining in the region and about the possibility of sustainable development disconnected from the mining activity, as an alternative to make the place less dependent on it, and in order to promote social transformation. From the theoretical foundation presented and the data analysis, it is concluded that edu-communicative practices by digital means can help in the management of public policies, and mainly, can foster social movements in favor of sustainable practices and experiences, which help the populations of mining areas in situations of activity dependence.