He has 20 years of experience in engineering and mining and joined the company in 2019, when he took over the Geotechnical Directorate, where he implemented significant advances in our dam and tailings management model.
A civil and geotechnical engineer, he graduated from the School of Mines at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP) and holds MBAs from Fundação Getúlio Vargas and Fundação Dom Cabral. Throughout his career, he has held various positions in operations, projects, consulting, and auditing, both in Brazil and abroad. Over the past 10 years, he has dedicated himself to geotechnics and tailings management in mining. Before joining Vale, he was Senior Global Director at Yamana Gold.
With extensive global experience, Rafael is a strong organizational leader and author of several publications and technical presentations related to tailings disposal and risk management in tailings storage facilities.
Rafael is a strategic thinker who can adapt his approach according to local challenges while positively engaging and motivating teams to enable cultural change. He also demonstrates strong communication skills and change management capabilities and is proficient in articulating project strategy externally and internally at various levels of the organization.