Editorial

Abstract

This Editorial covers several issues: • Gorceix, founder of the school of Mines, said in 1876: without primary education, there is no secondary education; without secondary education, there is no superior education; and without superior education, there will be no Brazilian engineers or men useful to their country. The motto, "Country Educator" of the current Brazilian administration is far from being true. One only has to remember that the founder of the centennial School of Mines of Ouro Preto complained about the existence of educational problems, and that was 139 years ago. The strikes that along the years have affected the Brasilian Universities, the budget cuts for education, as well as the poor level of education the grade and high schools, demonstrate that the proposed motto is not heading in the right direction. • The acquired experience of J. Pancrácio, engineer, while working for Ferteco Mineração (currently, Vale), served as background for the founding of Gaustec, a company serving as a research center for low iron content ore treatment. In turn, REM has made an effort to publish this company's results obtained as much on the pilot test scale, as on the industrial one. In this issue, we call attention to the Scientific Communication that presents one of these results, entitled: The NoBLOCK Technology: A Major Breakthrough in Wet High Intensity Magnetic Separation (WHIMS)". • In 1948, IPHAN also launced a campaing "SAVE OURO PRETO" that resulted in the transformation of the city of Ouro Preto into a "Heritage for Humanity" by UNESCO. However, from that time on (66 years), the city has witnessed an accelerated urban decline, mainly due to governmental neglect, politics, lack of planning, and political attitudes. REM now supports Dr. Ernani Carlos de Araújo, professor at the Escola de Minas/UFOP, who has originated the revival of the "Save Ouro Preto" project.