From the very beginning of its establishment, MIDHCO has paid special attention to the environment and reduced the side effects of industrial activities on the environment. Accordingly, environmental protection is one of the principles of MIDHCO's social responsibility and its development and exploitation plans. At MIDHCO, many production and operational processes are being carried out under the standards related to the environmental management and conservation. Also, in the internal structure of MIDHCO, HSE management is trying to formulate the environmental organizational culture of MIDHCO in order to comply with the environmental priorities by developing environmental guidelines and improving the environmental management system throughout MIDHCO.

The guidelines for the environmental management and conservation include the following:

•  Operational instructions for storage and storage of special waste.
•  Waste management guide.
• Guide to Monitoring and Measuring Environmental Pollutants.
• Industrial Sewage (waste water) Monitoring Guide.
• Strategic Management Guide to Factory Industrial Wastewater Refinery.
• Guide to monitoring and measuring air pollutants.

Environmental standards:

ISO 14001, which has requirements for environmental protection and prevention of environmental pollution, is one of the most common and important environmental standards in various industries. The requirements of this standard go beyond national laws and standards. Organizations that meet this standard do environmental policy, determine the damage to nature or areas where damage may occur, design and implement environmental projects to improve and preserve the life of the earth, determine the means and facilities to achieve these goals. They work continuously to improve the environment. Since 2011, Midco has been planning and establishing standards that will improve the company's processes and products. In this regard, MIDHCO in 2016 succeeded in obtaining the certificates of the latest standard edition of ISO 14001, which is about environmental protection. In addition to MIDHCO headquarters, companies with this certificate include: Zarand Iranian Steel, Sirjan Iranian Steel, Iranian Babak Copper, Iranian Boutia Steel, Frosilis West Pars, Middle East Mining Expansion, Middle East Meyar Sanat Industrial Engineering and Pabdana Coal Processing.

Development of green area:

MIDHCO, in line with its environmental and social responsibility programs, has put the development of green area on the agenda from the beginning. For this purpose, planting of plant species in accordance with the climatic conditions of the region, in production units and mines of MIDHCO has been considered. MIDHCO has planned to create 4700 hectares of green area within the framework of its environmental programs and social responsibilities. By the end of 2019, more than 2700 hectares of green area have been created by planting 380,000 trees.

Many Midco subsidiaries, such as Zarand Coke, Sirjan Concentrate and Pelletizing, Bardsir Steel Complex, Pabdana Coal Processing, and Babak Copper, use wastewater to irrigate green space by creating a wastewater refinery. Also, to manage water consumption in the maintenance and development of green area, the use of new watering technologies and tree care is one of the main environmental programs of the subsidiaries in 2019.

Energy consumption operations:

The steel industry is one of the industries that needs high energy, and according to 2012 statistics, 18% of the total final energy consumption in the world's industries belongs to the iron and steel industry. In addition, in the steel production chain, about 20 to 40 percent of production costs are related to energy consumption. As a result, efforts to increase energy efficiency and energy consumption, in addition to preserving natural resources and reducing environmental pollution, will lead to competitiveness and lower production costs. In recent decades, the steel industry has focused a lot on energy efficiency. From 1960 to 2017, energy consumption in the industry fell by nearly 60 percent per ton of steel production, according to the World Steel Association. In the steel industry, the integration of the process from mining to steelmaking and the prevention of heat loss and high-efficiency production is the most fundamental way to reduce energy consumption.

Meanwhile, MIDHCO, by selecting the highest technologies of the world, has made the optimization of energy consumption a part of the effort to improve the production processes and has paid attention to the environmental effects. MIDHCO has reduced its energy consumption by implementing process improvements such as timely supply of raw materials, use of higher quality concentrates as raw materials, better distribution and heat transfer, more ideal combination of regenerative gas consisting of CO and H2, and reduction of unexpected process or repairs. According to the process design, MIDHCO is expected to have the lowest steel cost in country, with optimizations for natural and energy resources and the completion of the production chain from the mine to the final product.

Air pollution control:

The steel and mining industries, if they do not pay attention to the environmental requirements in the operation, then they can be one of the industries affecting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the attention of companies in this field to reduce air pollution will play an important role in reducing climate change and protecting the environment. MIDHCO has taken a variety of steps to reduce air pollution and improve air quality around production complexes. These steps include the use of instantaneous and online monitoring systems for measuring gases, vapors, and dust. This system is installed and commissioned on the chimneys of the Zarand Refinery and West Frosilis Factory Complex. By monitoring and measuring the air output from the drawers, the negative effects of air pollution from the main source can be managed and controlled.

The Paris Climate Agreement is part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which has been working since 2020 to address issues related to adjustment, financing and adaptation to the greenhouse gas emissions crisis. In 2015, for the production of each ton of steel, the amount of production of CO2 in the world was 2.2 tons, in Iran 1.18 tons and at MIDHCO 1.2 tons. According to the Paris Agreement and the scenario of a 4-degree Celsius rise in temperature since the Industrial Revolution by 2050, the amount of carbon produced per ton of steel should be reduced to 1.16 tons worldwide. According to this scenario, Iran should reduce the amount of 0.03 tons CO2 and MIDHCO 0.4 tons CO2 per production of each ton of steel.

Protection of water resources:

Water, as a life-giving liquid, plays an important role in economic development, environmental sustainability, and the well-being of society. The importance of water resources in our country, which is facing the limitation and scarcity of water resources, is a lot more than what it should be. Therefore, MIDHCO has made water resources protection one of the most important priorities of its environmental programs and sustainable development strategies. Using modern and advanced technologies in water recycling and the creation of consumption cycles, MIDHCO has tried to reduce water consumption in the production chain to the lowest possible level and bring it closer to world standards.

As the steel industry needs large amount of water, MIDHCO has made significant investments in reusing water in manufacturing processes. More than 60% of the water used is supplied from wastewater refinery, and according to the plans, all the water needed by MIDHCO will be supplied in this way in near future. In addition, MIDHCO uses wastewater refinery systems in production complexes to prevent water pollution, while reducing dependence on groundwater resources, and using refined wastewater to water the green areas. Currently, eight refinery sections at MIDHCO are being used.

The total efforts made by MIDHCO have led to the fact that, with nearly 20 percent of employment in Kerman province due to MIDHCO's industrial and mining activities, only 0.5 percent of the province's water consumption is consumed at MIDHCO's production subsidiaries.

Green technologies:

In recent decades, the steel and copper industries have played an important role in the development of societies and the development of other industries. While playing this positive role, the steel and copper industries have sought to make more use of technologies that consume less energy and use natural resources better. These technologies, known as green technologies, have been effective in both production processes and in recycling waste and energy conservation.

Based on this global trend, MIDHCO has prioritized green technologies to provide new ways to reduce air pollution, energy consumption and conserve natural resources, and decrease production costs while increasing productivity.

Examples of environmental management at MIDHCO:

• Using the Biotank Leaching process of copper concentrate at Babak Copper Iranian Company.
• Mechanized system for managing and monitoring tree information (SAMPAD) at Boutia Iranian Steel Company.
• Irrigation plant from wet waste concentrate of iron ore concentrate in Sirjan Iranian Steel Company.
• Use of dry coke cooling system (CDQ) at Zarand Iranian Steel Manufacturing Company (Zarand Coking).
• Hot charging technology at Butia Steel Complex.
• Electric arc furnace dusting system at Bardsir Steel Complex.
• Complete recovery of water by zero discharge (ZLD) method at Iranian Butia Steel Company.
• Design and construction of the geomembrane pool to reuse the return water at Bardsir direct regeneration plant.