February 23, 2022

17:02

Bruno Pacheco – from Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Eight giant Brazilian and international mining companies have 225 active applications filed with the National Mining Agency (ANM) overlapping 34 Indigenous Lands (IT), according to data from the fourth edition of the report “Complicity in Destruction IV”, released on Tuesday, 22, which talks about how mining companies and international investors contribute to the violation of indigenous rights and threaten the future of the Amazon. The Xikrin indigenous lands of Cateté, in Pará, and the Waimiri Atroari, in Amazonas, are among the most affected by these requests.

According to the document, despite being against the law, the ANM receives, registers and keeps in its systems the requests for mineral research and mining operations of large, medium and small mining companies, cooperatives of miners and businessmen interested in the exploitation of indigenous lands. The Brazilian multinational Vale and the Canadian mining company Belo Sun are among those with applications. Besides them are Anglo American, Potássio do Brasil, Mineração Taboca/Mamoré Mineração e Metalúrgica (both from the Minsur Group), Glencore, AngloGold Ashanti and Rio Tinto.

“These applications generate major impacts on the region and local communities by inflaming disputes and conflicts between political and economic actors who defend mining and the indigenous communities who try to prevent this activity from invading and destroying their lands and rivers. In the context of pressure for the approval of legislative proposals such as PLs 191/2020 and 490/2004, the mere existence of these requests represents a serious violation of indigenous peoples’ rights”, says an excerpt from the survey.

The report

The active mining company requests correspond to an area of 5.7 thousand square kilometers (or 572,738 hectares), equivalent to three times the size of Brasilia or London, the capital of England. According to the report, the requirements are for various metals, especially copper, gold, nickel, potassium salts, zircon, cassiterite, bauxite and diamond.

The survey, done in partnership with the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) and Amazon Watch, with data obtained from a partnership with the Amazônia Minada project, of the InfoAmazonia portal, shows that Pará is the state with the highest concentration of mining requests, with 143 requests overlapping 22 Indigenous Lands. Next are Amazonas (56) and Mato Grosso (23).

“The report, made in partnership between Apib and Amazon Watch, also addresses the role of the mining industry in climate change and the devastation of biodiversity in Brazil. In addition, the material exposes the socio-environmental impacts of the activity on indigenous peoples and their lands, especially in the Amazon”, said indigenous leader Sônia Guajajara, coordinator of Apib.

The Xikrin Indigenous Lands of Cateté, in Pará, and Waimiri Atroari, in Amazonas, are the most affected by the requests. In all, each has 34 requests. The list of the most affected is completed by the Sawré Muybu indigenous lands, in Pará, with 21, and Apyterewa, in the same state, with 13.

The most affected ethnic group is the Kayapó, with 72 requests. The list follows with the Waimiri Atroari (34), Munduruku (25), Mura (14) and Parakanã (13). According to the survey, at least five requests are in areas where indigenous people of the Apiaká ethnic group live in voluntary isolation.

More requests

In November 2021, Amazônia Minada identified 2,478 active and overlapping requests for 261 indigenous lands in the National Mining Agency system, whose processes are in the name of 570 mining companies, mining associations and international groups.

According to the report, these companies are trying to exploit, together, an area of 10.1 million hectares (101 thousand square kilometers) throughout Brazil; almost the size of England. Because of the history of impacts on territories and indigenous peoples, in Brazil and worldwide, the survey focused the research on the 8 mining companies pointed out.

According to the survey, these mining companies received a total of USD 54.1 billion in financing from Brazil and abroad, in the last five years, with corporations based in the United States continuing to be among the main financiers. Together, the management companies Capital Group, BlackRock and Vanguard have invested USD 14.8 billion in mining companies with interests in Indigenous Lands and a history of rights violations, the survey points out.

“These areas are not available for mineral exploration, and nor should they be, both because of respect for the constitutional right of self-determination of indigenous peoples over their territories and because of their importance in combating climate change. This understanding must come from the State and also from the companies and financial institutions that finance them”, Dinaman Tuxá, from Apib’s executive coordination, emphasized.

Check out the report in full: