often referred to as the “City of Gold,” is at the heart of a complex and controversial gold mining economy in the Brazilian Amazon gold is more than a precious metal; it’s the lifeblood of the city From local drug dealers using it for money laundering to residents paying for groceries with it the town’s entire economy depends on gold extraction Hundreds of men work in the “garimpos,” illegal mines that dot the landscape while local machine shops buzz with activity keeping bulldozers and heavy machinery in working order for extraction The Brazilian government has deployed IBAMA authorities to crack down on illegal mining creating significant tension between miners and environmental regulators These new measures are stirring controversy and the future of the city’s gold-fueled economy is now uncertain We want to hear from you. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to YOU. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here!  Banner image: Itaituba is Brazil’s gold capital accounting for 75% of all the illegal gold produced in the country according to the Federal University of Minas Gerais Resilient and resourceful, Brazil’s illegal gold capital resists government crackdown They came onto my property and broke everything. They made them sit there and watch it burn, without even being able to put out the fire. No mercy. Our focus is to curb these illegal mining activities. And since we set foot here, installed our camp and started operating, the rates have practically come down to zero. We’ll have to make an even greater effort, use all the power that the public apparatus can have, because it’s not possible that we can lose the war to illegal mining. Here, Itaituba is known as the city of nuggets, the city of gold. When people said, “Let’s go to Itaituba”, they came to the mines. But Itaituba is the headquarters. The Tapajós has a lot of gold, in this river, throughout the riverbed there is gold. This piece weighs 15.5 grams, valued at about 7,000 reais ($1,250). The economy here is based on gold and mining. We need it, like the miner produces gold, brings it to the city, to sell his gold. The economy improves. The crisis hurts me, it hurts a pharmacist, anyone who sells a cellphone. You can look: everything stopped. We are in Itaituba, in the southwest of the state of Pará, with a population of approximately 120,000 people… …where the main activity is, has been and will be for some time mineral extraction, And Itaituba concentrated on offering support services for mining activities. It is the main place for supplying materials for mining, whether food, machinery, fuel, etc., and also for purchasing gold. So Itaituba concentrates a large part of the buyers of this gold from mining. It developed a lot from the ‘70s and ’80s onward and has always been an extractivist region. Mining was a wonderful thing, it was excellent. It was kilos and kilos of gold. All of it manual, all of it with the machete, ax, all of it with by panning, all of it manual, rustic, different from what it is now. We are now living in a period of change. In the past, some areas had authorized gold mining, others did not. There were several gold buyers with an office in Itaituba, the seller would come and deliver the gold for sale with a declaration of origin. The big problem with illegal gold is that there was no control system to check that the declaration of origin was true. So laundering gold was very easy because of the good faith of the buyer, which was covered by law. There was an article that said that the gold buyer acknowledged his good faith in the declaration of origin. It was an article that needed to be reformed and today good faith is not recognized. The buyer has an obligation to verify that the origin declared is valid. All of this has made it more difficult to falsely declare the origin of gold. And for the gold buyer, it’s increasingly risky, because he runs the risk of losing the product. We live in a region that has been taken over by businessmen or bandits dressed up as businessmen, and for many years there has been money laundering and gold laundering here. Due to a series of problems we had throughout this development [of mining], that was done in a very uncoordinated way, In total, there are 240,000 hectares, or 240 thousand soccer fields of mining activities in the Brazilian Amazon. We are here, temporarily camped at an ICMBio base, on the banks of the Transgarimpeira highway. As the name suggests, it is the Gold Road, right? We’ve been here for approximately 15 days. We’re not talking about small gold mining operations here. We’re talking about gold mining of 40 hectares, 30 hectares, gold mining with heavy machinery, with machines that can open up and cut down vegetation in days, weeks at most. The main role of the machine is to open the entire pit and remove the layer of soil, until it actually reaches where the ore is, right? Different from clear-cut deforestation for the implementation of livestock or agriculture. So, if there is no real attempt to restore that area, perhaps even using engineering methods, Contamination by mercury and other metals from mining has a serious impact on the health and food security of Indigenous peoples. Mining kills us. It kills the city’s people too. It kills the soul of the river, kills the soul of the forest. There is no need to bring heavy mining into our house, into our forest. And I want to tell you. We will definitely remove the miners from Indigenous lands. This machine … IBAMA set fire to it. We were working there and we heard they were coming. Then they set fire to it, set fire to the engines there, to the shacks and left. Only here in this machine that burned, there were around 25 people, right? There were about 25 people working. They came onto my property, burned my excavator, my eight-wheeler, broke everything. More than 1 million reais ($178,000). That’s a lot for a small business. We can’t afford to remove the machinery.. So we proceed with seizure, followed by destruction with fire, mainly. And we are legally backed to do this. The government claims that we don’t try to legalize ourselves, but how can we legalize ourselves if it hasn’t opened the way for us to legalize ourselves? We’ve been informing everyone to seek legalization. Unfortunately the culture of mining here, and illegal mining, is very big. People would rather buy a million reais’ worth of machinery and start working, risk losing that machinery without having a license, than invest 50,000 reais ($8,900) to get a license. So if these gold mines in our region stop, the miners won’t stop mining. They’ll migrate to Suriname, they’ll migrate to French Guiana, they’ll migrate to Africa, to Venezuela. In the future, these other countries will all suffer from a major mining invasion. They’ve learned mining. They’re going to die doing it. While they can’t find a definitive solution for this, this cat-and-mouse game will continue and it’s pointless. You see people shouting: “Miner is not a bandit! Miner is not a bandit!” And if this keeps happening, and we don’t see a response, there could be a riot. All of this is leading to changes and there will be a time for adaptation, which is always confusing. And I still don’t know what the new break-even point will be. I think we’re going to have to pay a lot of attention so that these new regulations don’t become dead law. So I believe that some activity that complies with the legislation is possible. The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa, as protected areas become battlegrounds over history, human rights, and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss. Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins, and trying to forge a path forward […] Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Joe Bavier Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved In Pará state children are being born with neurological disorders Experts note similarities to the mercury poisoning disaster in Minamata Japan – but say that is not the whole story It was part of a game so that a doctor could measure the circumference of her head and check her withered legs Seven-year-old Valdenisa, an Indigenous Munduruku child, with her parents at the Indigenous health centre in Itaituba, Brazil. Photograph: Dan CollynsMiners use mercury More than six out of 10 of Munduruku in three villages were found to have mercury levels above internationally recognised safe norms, and 15% of children had neurodevelopment problems, according to a groundbreaking study by universities state institutions and civil society in 2020 As soon as I saw the child, I realised she had all the characteristics of a child from MinamataCleidiane Carvalho, field nurseThe report’s lead author, Paulo Basta, an investigator for Brazil’s National School of Public Health (ENSP), part of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) noticed the “increasingly frequent birth of children with physical abnormalities intellectual disability and rare neurological syndromes” Basta is conducting a long-term study that aims to measure the effects of prenatal exposure to mercury on the neurodevelopment of Indigenous children living in areas affected by gold mining “Our goal is to enrol 300 pregnant women and 300 newborns and to monitor the babies until they are two years old,” he says 91 pregnant women are participating in the study The study began in March 2023 and will run until December 2026 An illegal goldminer pours mercury on tiny particles of gold in a jar at a mine near Crepurizão Photograph: Nacho Doce/ReutersCleidiane Carvalho a field nurse posted to one of the Munduruku communities in 2010 sounded the alarm when one of her patients in a mining-affected area gave birth to a disabled daughter “As soon as I saw the child, I realised she had all the characteristics of a child from Minamata,” she says by phone from Boa Vista, where she worked with the Yanomami another Amazon people brutally affected by garimpo – as artisanal gold mining is known in Brazil “I had read about Minamata and made the connections.” The mother says she was born in a community that has mining activities “Everything suggests that it was caused by [mercury] contamination I became even more worried when the patient’s second daughter was born with the same disfigurement,” says Carvalho Carvalho was promoted to regional coordinator of Indigenous health based in Itaituba where she managed 28 health clinics and 400 employees in six municipalities she was shocked by the demand for wheelchairs in Munduruku villages wrapping his legs around her as they sit in the examination room with the medical experts short with the wiry build of a man who works with his hands He takes a few tottering steps before needing to grasp the back of the bench and he can’t walk or talk due to delayed physical and neurological development but I felt sad because he was a bit deficient,” says Karo Munduruku Alexo Junio Karo Photograph: Dan CollynsAfter taking him for MRI scans and physical therapy in Santarém the Indigenous territory where the family lives they decided to use traditional medicine and noticed a slight improvement As scientists try to unravel the mystery around the disproportionate number of disabled children they have observed that all of the youngsters tested had unsafe levels of mercury in hair samples Free newsletterGet a different world view with a roundup of the best news coordinator of the paediatric movement disorders programme at the University of São Paulo and one of the visiting experts in Itaituba says the Munduruku are in a complex chain of circumstances involving mercury poisoning Gusmão says the team has found some “clearcut cases where there seems to be a genetic disorder” can explain “a gamut of neurological problems” but poisoning would not necessarily be what caused them Preparing fish on the Tapajós River A study showed daily intakes of mercury from the fish were two to nine times higher than permitted UN limits Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesFernando Kok a child neurologist from the University of São Paulo and one of the group says there is “no evidence that mercury contamination can damage DNA” One theory suggests this might be a genetic disorder more commonly seen in isolated populations the principal investigator at the division of genetics and genomics at Boston children’s hospital in the US says the group had detected an “autosomal recessive condition” in three children with microcephaly As the health crisis rolls on, it has become the subject of a documentary called The New Minamata the children’s parents said they ate river fish every day the organic variety of the toxic metal that passes up the food chain A trailer for The New MinamataThe 2020 study shows that estimated daily intakes of mercury from the fish were two to nine times higher than the limits permitted by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization there aren’t so many children affected by malformations of neurological illnesses,” says Lucas Albertoni technical advisor at the special secretariat for Indigenous health at Brazil’s health ministry adding that an estimated 60 children were affected in a population of about 20,000 Although there is no existing protocol for mercury contamination the ministry has worked on a public health framework for Indigenous peoples to confront chronic poisoning in garimpo areas such as western Pará state Pará was listed in the study as the place with the most significant drop in gold extraction But while business has slowed in Itaituba’s gold shops the region's natural wealth is not being used to generate economic development for municipalities because the majority of existing gold mining is illegal violates indigenous lands and environmental protection areas If illegal mining provides employment for some who are willing to take on the risks of this criminal and toxic activity the benefits and profits are limited to this group at the expense of the local population and the country as a whole which loses some of its forest and natural resources only 2% of households in Jacareacanga have adequate sanitation the town's average infant mortality rate is high (20.8 per 1,000 live births) and only 9% of the population of 24,000 is employed an average infant mortality rate of 18.56 per 1,000 live births the Federal Government has been conducting a major operation to remove intruders equipment and buildings associated with illegal mining from the Munduruku Indigenous Land which has more than 90% of its territory within the borders of Jacareacanga and a small portion (2%) in Itaituba a large amount of machinery has already been destroyed The disintrusion operation has entered its second month and continues at a strong pace according to the schedule established by the Civil House The federal task force is working with around 20 federal agencies covering the 2.3 million hectares of the territory more than 300 actions have been carried out and the expectation is to continue with monitoring and inspections so that criminal activity loses strength and is made impossible Operation General Coordinator Nilton Tubino says that the work of the security teams and other members of the federal inspection dialog and intelligence teams will continue until the Indigenous Lands are entirely returned to their owners "These lands belong exclusively to the indigenous people and only they can enjoy its natural resources We won't allow the Amazon to be cut down for the benefit of private individuals," he said explaining that the government has also taken action outside the boundaries of the Indigenous Lands to protect the forest "President Lula has determined that the State should protect the Amazon This is the treasure of the Brazilian people," he pointed out INVESTMENTS — From January to September 2024 the Federal Government transferred BRL 84 million to the municipality of Jacareacanga: for citizens BRL 3.13 million in Continuous Cash Benefit BRL 9.24 million in Social Security Benefits BRL 1.22 million through the National School Feeding Program [Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar/PNAE] Itaituba received federal assistance in the total amount of BRL 233.97 million directly for the municipality: BRL 113.59 million from Bolsa Família BRL 82.91 million from the Continuous Cash Benefit BRL 170.73 million in Social Security Benefits and BRL 3.77 million from the National School Feeding Program NEW PAC — In the investment portfolio of the New PAC the Federal Government's investment program Jacareacanga has been contemplated with water supply systems two health units and school transportation Itaituba will see the completion of three kindergartens school transportation and water supply systems “There is much to be done for these municipalities and the Federal Government is taking action We need to work to bring employment and income opportunities we share responsibility with municipal and state managers We will not allow crime to provide the illusory promise of employment opportunities and better lives What we have seen is environmental degradation the decimation of indigenous communities and the deforestation of the Amazon," added Tubino COMMITMENT — The deforestation of the Munduruku Indigenous Lands has reinforced the government's commitment to protecting Brazil's natural wealth Continuous and coordinated actions aim not only to suppress illegal activities but also to make society aware of the importance of environmental preservation Operations prioritize combating deforestation and predatory exploitation of the Amazon mineral exploitation in the Munduruku Indigenous Lands leaves a trail of problems that harms indigenous people the environment and the population of neighboring municipalities such as Jacareacanga and Itaituba contamination by substances such as mercury and cyanide exploitation of child prostitution and alarming rates of violence are the most present in the region all the potential profit from illegally extracting gold from indigenous land remains in the hands of the gold diggers and their financiers Brazil — José Maria Silva de Souza starts preparations early he has many stops to make before heading to his gold mine A stop at the supermarket to buy groceries four workers climb into the back of his truck a woman who works as a cook also joins the team the loaded white truck is flying at almost 100 kilometers per hour (60 miles per hour) over a muddy dirt road Since federal environmental agents burned two of his backhoes a few weeks ago his mines have stopped working — and he’s losing money whose gray beard contrasts against his black skin we leave the cars by the side of the road and walk around 30 meters (100 feet) to the margins of the forest a scorched machine standing 3 m (10 ft) high seems strangely out of place “We brought it here to try to hide it,” Zé Maria says Zé Maria’s backhoe costs up to 1.5 million reais ($263,000) he’s brought his men to try to salvage at least some parts of it “Then I can use about 30,000 or 40,000 reais [$5,300 or $7,000] worth of it,” he says while the workers climb the vehicle searching for any surviving parts A second group of employees is in another of Zé Maria’s mines whose name translates to “big armadillo,” consists of a massive pump and hose spraying a high-pressure jet of water to strip down the banks of the river in search of gold but tatuzão is the fallback Zé Maria has to rely on to keep his mines running while he scrambles to get new equipment: “I’m not thinking of giving up.” Zé Maria’s gold mines lie around the Transgarimpeira road named after the word garimpo — wildcat mining that isn’t subject to the same rigorous environmental requirements as large-scale commercial mines “It is the gold road,” Guilherme Alcarás de Góes Brazil’s federal agency for conservation areas according to a report from the Federal University of Minas Gerais Itaituba is also at the heart of most of the schemes uncovered by authorities to launder illegal gold into the legitimate gold trade a backhoe can do in one day what three men using a tatuzão would take 40 days to do At the same time, several conservation units were created over the mining reserve increasing clashes between garimpeiros and environmental agents “Most garimpos here are illegal,” says Góes when we meet him at a large camp settled by a federal task force at the margins of the Transgarimpeira to tackle environmental crimes in the region “And we’re not talking about small garimpos in an unprecedented offensive against illegal gold mines in the Tapajós Environmental Protection Area (APA Tapajós) Garimpos are allowed in this kind of conservation unit Zé Maria’s backhoes were set on fire during one of these raids, following a decree stating that machinery used in illegal mining may be destroyed if agents don’t have the means to move them elsewhere “These machines are located in hard-to-reach places Our only alternative is to disable them,” Góes says This is the first time ICMBio has set up a camp on the Transgarimpeira agents carrying out previous raids would come and go by helicopter are part of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s offensive against illegal mining in the Brazilian Amazon inspectors destroyed 150 backhoes and 600 dredgers which churn up the riverbed in search of gold deforestation linked to garimpos in the Amazon plummeted by 30% compared to 2022 a legal provision that exempted them from having to verify the origin of the metal “We’re going through a transition,” Gustavo Geiser a forensics expert with the Federal Police “And I still don’t know what the new balance point will be But you really have to be tough in this transition period for it to happen And then the market will have to regulate itself.” The authorities’ new approach sparked a wave of outrage in Itaituba’s mining areas peaking at the end of April when dozens of people spent 10 days protesting on the Transgarimpeira and broke everything with no mercy,” mine owner Carlos Mendes Moares told Mongabay during the rally “The garimpeiro doesn’t even carry a gun,” Manuel Edilson Santos “That’s why the government does what it wants “It’s the dead man’s motorcade,” a 10-year-old girl explains calmly as a cacophony of horns interrupts our interview with her father in the family’s living room It’s our first day in the village of Creporizão and a garimpeiro has just died of a snakebite He was leaving the muddy waters of the mine after a long day of work when the snake bit him on the leg By the time he was brought to Itaituba’s hospital the long queue of motorbikes and cars crawling down the street is a protest against the precarious access to health care in Creporizão a village of 6,000 people located at the far end of the Transgarimpeira had also been “offended” by a snake as people in this part of the Amazon call it That accident happened years ago when he was working in a gold mine in the neighboring country of Suriname Araújo Filho has never distanced himself from garimpos The activity is in the family’s blood one of the pioneers in the Transgarimpeira region Many people even call me the garimpeiro’s pastor because usually I preach in garimpo areas.” an old expression still applied to communities born near the gold mines the garimpeiros spent months and months working [in the mines] they would go to the currutela,” Araújo Filho says where there was cachaça [sugarcane liquor] In one of the village’s main streets dozens of men have gathered in front of three or four bars listening to music and drinking beer in the early afternoon heat days like these often end with some man being stabbed in the middle of the street the village is taken over by families — women men and children — wearing their best clothes to go to church or out to a barbecue meal at the restaurant People on the outside think it doesn’t exist here Creporizão is as busy with shops and services as other small towns in Pará But without the money from gold (mostly illegal) “Gold boosts trade in general,” Araújo Filho says complaining the village has been experiencing a crisis since the arrival of ICMBio “If you walk around Creporizão today you’ll see several businesses closed.” is being built in the upper part of the city with sourcing the funds to pay for the structure Born in the village and the son of garimpeiros Tomaz is one of the leading spokespersons for the gold producers seven out of 10 homes you visit have a direct link to mining,” he tells Mongabay at his office in the Itaituba municipal center “I’m talking about more than 200,000 people who live in a region that has no other source of income except mineral activity.” targeted by the Federal Police in 2019 when nearly 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of cocaine were found at one of his farms Tomaz is a well-finished example of the outreach of garimpo influence: with its roots firmly sunk in the muddy waters it stretches through dozens of currutelas like Creporizão and large urban centers like Itaituba before reaching the country’s central cores of power Alongside other politicians, like Senator Zequinha Marinho and federal legislator Éder Mauro who back the garimpeiros’ agenda in Brazil’s capital Tomaz vocalizes the main arguments in favor of the sector These include the anger over the creation of conservation units like APA Tapajós designated during Lula’s first term as president in 2006 Another common complaint is the alleged difficulty in regularizing mining sites with government agencies “The whole problem of illegal mining and environmental crime is the federal government’s fault Because what is irregular can be made regular,” Tomaz says which is essentially changing its status from illegal to legal requires authorization from the National Mining Agency and an environmental license in which the gold miner commits to remediating the environmental damage caused by the activity mine owners along the Transgarimpeira have been told several times about the need to legalize their areas “People would rather buy a million reais [$175,000] worth of machinery and start working at the risk of losing the machinery due to lack of a license than invest 50,000 reais [$8,800] to get a license in about six months,” he says such as those located within Indigenous territories or fully protected conservation units A mine like Zé Maria’s employs around seven people: five garimpeiros Each one earns a percentage of the extracted gold they weigh and divide the gold.” The garimpeiros who do the hardest part of the job get from 14% to 16% each works on eucalyptus plantations in the neighboring Tocantins state but has taken a few months off to make some money in Itaituba’s gold mines “The service is not good,” he tells Mongabay as he fixes a part of the tatuzão in temperatures exceeding 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit) “But that’s where you sometimes earn money faster.” Around us broken trunks of felled trees poke through the muddy water of what once was a healthy river “I have no doubt that the garimpeiro is a hard worker and you have to have a lot of guts to work on it,” Geiser says gold mining is behind impressive stories of social rise Rosimeire Gomes de Souza came to a garimpo for the first time at the age of 14 Carrying her baby child and abandoned by her husband she soon started “tinkering with machinery,” as she puts it Souza owns million-reais backhoes and runs her own mines “I owe everything I have to garimpo.” Maria Aldenora Azevedo Rodrigues has a similar story she lived in the Itaituba municipal center and worked as a cleaner “I often stopped eating to feed my son,” she tells Mongabay Rodrigues started working as a cook at a garimpo “The garimpo was my father and mother.” In rural Creporizão and urban Itaituba alike it’s common to see garimpeiros in precarious situations wandering on the streets There’s a lot of temptation,” says Santos referring to garimpeiros who spend much of their money on prostitutes and partying the abuse of drugs like crack and cocaine has been growing among garimpeiros “It’s difficult to understand this part of the income that the garimpo generates and the accumulation that the garimpo doesn’t generate,” Geiser says While the earnings from the gold mines are a matter of individual nature their impacts are shared across society — especially among the nearby traditional communities machines like backhoes and tatuzões are used to strip away all the ground surface of riverbanks to expose the lower soil layers where the gold is “All the recovery capacity of that area is lost,” ICMBio’s Góes says “It’s different from what happens in an area that has been cleared by clear-cutting to establish livestock or agriculture where there has been no deep movement of the soil.” The other method of gold extraction involves dredgers floating structures that churn up the river beds in search of gold “The dredger has an arm that goes straight to the bottom of the riverbed there is a crown that rotates to stir up all that sand,” Góes says “It’s impossible to recover [from] the impact of a dredger.” a toxic element used to separate the gold from the ore It ends up contaminating the water and the fish which are fundamental to the sustenance of many Indigenous and riverine communities Mercury contamination in adults may cause symptoms like trembling The substance can also pass from a pregnant woman to her unborn child and the baby may be born with rare neurological syndromes such as cerebral palsy the child may experience delays in neurological development resulting in lifelong learning difficulties Nearly three-quarters of the mercury used in garimpos is smuggled into Brazil according to a report by the Escolhas Institute which advocates for sustainable development of natural resources puts the figure even higher: it tells Mongabay that essentially all mines in Brazil use illegal mercury “It’s an activity that needs to be highly regulated and most of the garimpeiros find it very difficult to comply with the legislation,” Geiser says But the role of the state is to ensure that the law is complied with.” Zé Maria’s rush to get his mines back on track shows that the garimpeiros don’t give up easily “There is no more stubborn person than a garimpeiro No one is going to stop them,” says Araújo Filho “They will continue to insist on what gives them food because everyone has the right to fight for their livelihood.” Banner image: Each gold mine employs around seven people Gold mining in the Amazon has doubled in area since 2018, AI tool shows FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] Pescador Itaituba Miritituba - Vitor Shimomura/Brasil de Fato a few meters from a green barge standing in a deep part of the river.  The barge is part of the mega-structure installed in the town to support the transportation of grains the white lights of the Cargo Transshipment Stations (ECTs where products are transferred from trucks to boats in the district of Miritituba opposite Itaituba The crossing from one side to the other is made by ferry The journey takes half the time in small motorized boats (called "rabetas" in Brazil) on the right bank of the Tapajós River fisherman Ednaldo Ares dos Santos moored his boat on the morning of November 16 That was the last day to sell their fish before the beginning of the closed season when fishing and selling certain species are prohibited so that fish can reproduce safely.  since the arrival of the boats and the ports this protection measure seems insufficient to preserve the river's fauna a fish popularly known as piau and commonly found in the Tapajós has disappeared "It's decreasing due to the flow of boats This fish used to come up from there to here Now it isn't coming up anymore," says the fisherman.  Santos was born into a family of fishing professionals and started fishing very young he provided for the education of his three children fishing is becoming increasingly difficult The first station, owned by the Unitapajós joint venture – made up of agribusiness giants Bunge and Amaggi – was installed in 2013, according to the technical report Soy in the Northern Logistics Corridor, published in April 2024 by the Institute for Socio-Economic Studies (INESC Then came three others belonging to agribusiness companies: Companhia Norte de Navegação e Portos (Cianport) and Cargill and Hidrovias do Brasil S.A there is a floating ETC owned by Transportes Bertolini Ltda Group cargo is distributed to private ports and shipped to other countries We can't fish where we used to," says the fisherman pointing to the area dominated by ports near the urban area of Miritituba The companies cut down stretches of forest and limited access to the water to install the stations and ports secretary of the Z 56 Fishermen's Colony which serves around 400 fisherpeople from Itaituba and other towns in the region the area controlled by the ports on the bank of the Tapajós River is almost a kilometer long but it doesn't happen anymore," says Cruz "We used to go there using our small boat that's not possible," says retired fisherman Lázaro Joaquim da Silva "There are people from here who go fishing in the town of Aveiro," he says The combination of deforestation on the riverbank and the restriction of bank access has resulted in losses for fisherpeople Santos could secure up to 200 kilos of fish in three days of work he returns home with just 40 kilos of fish They lived in that area where gillnets were full of fish we don't catch fish on the riverbank anymore The decline has been drastic," explains Cruz According to the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil around 1,800 trucks carrying a total of around 84,000 tons of grain leave Sinop (in the state of Mato Grosso) in the direction of the Tapajós Axis bound for the port of Santarém (in the state of Pará) where they are unloaded and shipped abroad.  cargo from Mato Grosso is loaded onto barges that follow the Tapajós waterway until they meet the Amazonas River "The ports were installed on a fish route The consequence is that they fish less," says Cruz people who made ends meet through fishing and fishing disappeared and you don't see anyone," says Santos.  the Pará Public Prosecutor's Office filed a public civil action against the Pará State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability the Secretariat for Ports of the Presidency of the Republic the National Water Transport Agency (Antaq in Portuguese) and the companies Rio Turia Serviços Logísticos The document points out flaws in preparing the Environmental Impact Study and Report and informed consultation with the communities impacted by the activities "The documents [the study and the report on environmental impacts] already prepared did not consider the existence of Indigenous villages and traditional communities affected by the Cargo Transshipment Stations project. To date, neither the company nor public bodies have announced any intention to carry out prior consultation," the document states. Prior, free, and informed consultation is a mechanism for protecting traditional communities. It was established by Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO), signed in 1989 and ratified by Brazil in 2002. This means that these populations have the right to monitor and take part in decisions about projects that impact their territories.  Fisherwoman Maria Zuleide, Ednaldo's wife, remembers a meeting when Cargill arrived on the territory. "But since we didn't understand much about the projects, we just listened," she says.  In another passage, the lawsuit indicates the failure of public bodies to carry out this process stage. "It so happens that Antaq and the state of Pará approved this project, and some of the companies involved began the licensing process without consulting the Indigenous and traditional populations about the impacts on their lives," the Public Prosecutor's Office document states. The case is currently before the courts. Meanwhile, the ECTs continue to operate. In Santarém, Cargill's port turned the beach into an abandoned area The mega grain disposal facility is on the left side of the waterfront. A concrete walkway connects the kiosks and a basketball court. Today, everything is abandoned. Weeds grow through the cracks in the court's wall, the kiosks are closed, and garbage accumulates in the surrounding undergrowth. "That area used to be a beach. After Cargill, it turned into that," says popular communicator Allan Hios. Maria Ivete Bastos dos Santos, president of the Santarém Rural Farmers' Union, lives in the rural community of Dourado on the river's opposite bank. When the beach still existed, she used to moor her canoe there to visit the city of Santarém. "Cargill's port has devastated our lives," Bastos laments. She says that the movement of the barges has taken away the tranquility of those who travel along the river. "The impact is violent."   She remembers when the beach was a meeting point for residents and a hotspot for small producers in the region. "Stallholders installed next to Vera Paz beach, who had to leave their stalls, were never compensated—workers who used to sell their products on the beach—ice pop, chestnuts," she says. *This article was produced in partnership with the INESC (Institute for Socio-Economic Studies). All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given. All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given. writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by David Gregorio Las historias que otros no te quieren contar almost all the stores were closed; only those buying gold decided to open The streets of this city in the Pará Amazon were a ghost town Not only because it was burning under the most intense drought in the area in 40 years but also because it was a municipal holiday and there were few people on the streets.  On the same avenue where the banks are located several establishments display signs with the words "oro" "gold" and "se compra" in sequence for blocks Inside one of these stores that buy gold illegally fiddle with their cell phones under a ceiling fan There is an oven full of junk next to the wall and mirrored glass blocking the view of whoever is standing outside his shirt unbottoned down to his chest: "Do you want to sell metal?" he asks vendors on "gold street" were celebrating the impact of the war between Israel and Hamas which had caused a 5% increase in the price of the mineral from around USD 60.5 to about USD 64.5 per gram So imagine: 1 kilo of gold is a bar that small. You had bought it in the morning and in the afternoon you had earned USD 5,000," says André, another buyer, enthusiastically. At the beginning of November, according to the Investing platform bank Morgan Stanley published a report alluding to the tension in the Middle East and recommended investing in gold because it is considered a "safe haven" But immediately André's expression falls apart The latest operations by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) against illegal mining in the surrounding area in addition to recent investigations by the Federal Police into the gold trade chain After 627 operations unleashed by the Federal Police against illegal mines between January and November 2023 USD 91.8 million confiscated and a loss of USD 1.5 billion for miners across Brazil there was an atmosphere of uncertainty in the gold world During the government of Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), when the most recent gold rush in the Tapajós River began, with the support of the former president (whose father was a miner in Serra Pelada) illegal mines proliferated not only in the Itaituba region The area exploited by illegal mining within indigenous lands grew 265% between 2018 and 2022; in Conservation Units (natural areas legally instituted and protected by the Brazilian government) the increase was 75% in the same period, according to a recent study by MapBiomas a collaborative network composed of nonprofit organizations universities and technology companies engaged in socio-environmental studies.  Almost half (40.7%) of artisanal mines in the Amazon began operating from 2018 onwards as well as more than 50% of those within indigenous lands The mining boom was so overwhelming in recent years that the area dedicated to artisanal mining (legal and illegal) has surpassed that of industrial mining Because they pay less taxes than mining companies, ore from artisanal mines is always in high demand. "Gold from DTVMs is cheaper than from a mining company in Minas Gerais," says Sergio Leitão, executive director of Instituto Escolhas, one of the main non-governmental organizations dedicated to researching this sector in Brazil.  The acronym DTVMs refers to the Distribuidoras de Títulos y Valores Mobiliarios which are financial institutions authorized by the Central Bank to buy and resell gold from these mines in the country "It only has to pay the Tax on Financial Operations (IOF) while a mining company also has to pay the Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) It is in the interest of the companies that buy gold to source gold from these distributors."  Itaituba stands out in this study because it represents 16% of all the holes that miners and companies have drilled in search of gold in Brazil, according to MapBiomas.  It is not surprising, then, that the municipality has become by far the largest collector of the Financial Compensation for Mineral Exploitation (CFEM) a compensation that those who extract wealth from the ground have to pay the national government there was a 475% increase in the city's revenue which jumped from USD 2.2 million to USD 12.4 million the municipality produced 12.4 tons of gold which equates to approximately USD 740 million a figure eight times higher than the city's budget for that year.  When analyzing the data on the origin of the ore, researchers from the Remote Sensing Center of the Federal University of Minas Gerais identified that 5.6 tons were legal, linked in the Financial Compensation for Mineral Exploitation registry to regular permits Another 6.8 tons (55%) were considered irregular: 1.7 of which were linked in their documentation to mines that did not even exist in the territory the points on the map that should show gold extraction are in fact areas of dense jungle Investigators and prosecutors from the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Pará began to realize that there was a huge gold laundering scheme.  Of the 5,831 gold mining permits granted since 1980 2,361 correspond to areas of Itaituba— 1,026 of those are active not all of them produce as much gold as they report an indication that bad actors may be using these licensed mines around the city as a false source for gold that is illegally extracted from other areas known as "pepita city" —which in Tupí means "small stone"— has acquired a new nickname Authorities now call it the "capital of gold laundering" on the advance of artisanal mining in the country.  Gold buying centers are the "local" arms of the distributors When a Securities Dealer (or its buying center) purchases the metal an invoice must be completed indicating the location from which the gold was extracted The mining boom has been so overwhelming in recent years that the area dedicated to artisanal mining (both legal and illegal) has surpassed that of industrial mining "In many of the operations carried out in the states of Roraima [where there are only two legalized mines] Amazonas and also in the Kayapó Indigenous Land [where the activity is prohibited] we identified a large flow of money from Itaituba," adds Oliveira who is also an official of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office.   The mayor denies having benefited from illegal gold mining in the area I never [exploited gold illegally]," he told Sumaúma / OjoPúblico but stopped for three years because there is a lot of bureaucracy Regarding the cocaine discovered in his ranch he said: "It was the drug traffickers who landed there without orders from us and we denounced it" but it is full of 4x4 pickup trucks that cost the price of an apartment according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics but everywhere you look you can see men in expensive cars sporting gold jewelry jewelry is part of the travelers' aesthetics The letters hanging on the airport's puny sign remind us that the public managers there seem to have forgotten everything The city attracts people from different walks of life in Brazil who go to regularize the illegally extracted gold thanks to the large number of extraction permits that were authorized by the government according to investigations by the Federal Police and the Attorney General's Office.  Experts from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) argue that gold production with signs of irregularities reached 30% in 2021 100% of Brazil's gold production is exported About 25% of the trade between Brazil and England is gold of which 70% is also exported to Switzerland the Federal Police carried out an operation to shut down an illegal mine near the Z'oé Indigenous Land they said in their statement that they sold the illegal gold to the Ourominas DTVM company store in Santarém The employees at the store did not question the origin of the metal They only asked them for the miners' IDs and Single Taxpayer Registry according to the Public Civil Action filed by the Attorney General's Office in 2019.  When the company's financial secrecy was lifted the invoices that had been issued to the trio of miners were located The agents traced the origin of the gold extracted from the clandestine mine in Óbidos back to a permit (i.e a mine authorized by the National Mining Agency) from Itaituba.  The mines referenced in the tax documents as the point of origin for that gold had not produced it The real origins were illegal mines within protected areas investigators analyzed several gold purchase invoices and permit documentation from the company Ourominas the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office concluded that the company had been acquiring gold from clandestine mines for years By falsifying the origin of the metal on the invoices which until then were paper invoices completed by hand Santarém's employees transformed the illegal ore into legalized ore researchers Bruno Manzolli and Raoni Rajão from the Federal University of Minas Gerais in partnership with the Attorney General's Office replicated the Federal Police's methodology on a national scale.  Legality of Gold Production in Brazil [published in Portuguese] revealed the way businessmen legalized gold extracted from the rainforest The data caught the attention of the scientific and academic communities The Federal Police began to investigate further Cameras are installed on the facade of the Ourominas store in Itaituba you have to call an employee when you want to come in some establishments buy gold clandestinely it is a Securities Dealer that has authorization from the Central Bank to acquire and resell the mineral only in one of these distributors can the "laundering" of gold be carried out even though the facades of the stores —a conglomeration of signs in vibrant colors— are very similar Lately many miners have migrated to Guyana where cassiterite is the strongest product says a federal commissioner specialized in combating environmental crimes who spoke to Sumaúma and OjoPúblico on condition of anonymity others come from Yanomami territory: "The Itaituba miners have a connection with the Yanomami There were miners who migrated from Yanomami land to Itaituba after the police operations there Mine owners have businesses in both states sometimes in several other regions at the same time," says the commissioner.  because there are no artisanal mines with extraction permits Contacted through its press office for information on flight feasibility studies and passenger flow Azul airline said that the flight is not direct declaring where the gold was extracted from according to investigations by the Federal Police The field on the form reserved for the gold extraction site is falsified The police confirmed the method when they discovered that the Ourominas branch in Santarém was using a database with regular permit numbers to falsify the invoices (which they used as the origin of the gold) but the metal had been extracted from another location The seller who went to the distributor did not have to worry about naming the source of the gold The same store did the paperwork and carried out the fraud as detailed in the Attorney General's Office's Public Civil Action.  when the area [that has a mining permit] is not his The Ourominas employee in Itaituba refers to the suspension, by the Supreme Court, of paragraph 4 of Article 39 of Law 12.844 of 2013, which presumed the legality of the gold acquired and the good faith of the buyer. With the progress of investigations by the Federal Police, pressure from civil society and the declaration of a health emergency in the Yanomami Indigenous Land after a complaint by SUMAÚMA in January 2023 Minister Gilmar Mendes suspended this paragraph from the law in April of this year we had a mechanism that institutionalized the laundering of resources by allowing the buyer of gold to say that he had bought it 'in good faith' until proven otherwise," analyzes researcher Rodrigo Oliveira "How does this undermine the fight against illegal gold They [the buyers] gave the argument that they didn't have to conduct any checks on the origin of the gold as they have the presumption of good faith in criminal terms it becomes more difficult for the investigating bodies to prove malicious conduct [with intent to commit a criminal act]," he said this article meant an immense difficulty in punishing [the buyers of illegal gold] How to punish those who are already saints?" supported by the other justices of the Supreme Court cites the fragment of a document drafted by the Ministry of Justice: "The presumption of legality in the production and good faith of the purchaser prevents the creation of mechanisms for traceability and accountability of the Securities Dealers." Faced with the difficulty of holding buyers accountable Gilmar Mendes also ordered the Lula government to create "a new regulatory framework for the control of the gold trade especially with regard to the verification of the legal origin of the gold acquired by the distributors," as well as measures to prevent the purchase of gold from Indigenous Lands and protected areas The case is waiting to be decided on by the Supreme Court In June 2023, the government sent a bill with new rules for gold trading and transportation the bills have been stalled in the Chamber of Deputies awaiting a vote "Artisanal mining is no longer a rudimentary activity [as the law says] but its head is on Faria Lima," says Leitão referring to the São Paulo city avenue dominated by bankers and technology companies like the securities dealer Fênix and D'Gold was the subject of recent investigations by the Federal Police and faces legal battles It is a large room with a kiln at the back In one corner of the store there is a bar full of bottles of brandy and whiskey with a sign that reads: "Miners don't pay here." In the background a map occupying an entire wall shows the clandestine airstrips in mines in the Tapajós region: Garimpo do Rato Juarez de Oliveira e Silva Filho and Roselito Soares the Attorney General's Office requested the suspension of Ourominas' activities as well as those of D'Gold DTVM and Carol DTVM accusing them of having sold more than 4 tons of illegal gold in 2019 and 2020.  The companies may have to pay USD 2.1 billion for socio-environmental damages only one DTVM was suspended based on Federal Police investigations the Court of the state of Pará ordered the suspension of all activities of Fênix DTVM whose directors are friends and business allies of Valdinei Mauro de Souza one of Brazil's leading artisanal mining entrepreneurs and a collaborator of Jair Bolsonaro's re-election campaign the Ourominas employees prepared to finish the workday André is used to organizing the gold bars and putting them on a plane to São Paulo he only remembered to put the tungsten bars in the safes since tungsten weighs about the same as gold the same hands that work on the computer on the table When Sumaúma and OjoPúblico contacted Ourominas it said it would not comment on facts "already addressed" in 2016 and did not answer the questions sent HStern stated that "the precious metals and gems it uses to make its jewelry come from suppliers of excellent reputation who work following the standards for the correct extraction of raw materials from nature."  The company did not comment on the alleged business relationship with Ourominas D'Gold said that it "operates with strict compliance mechanisms that prevent the purchase of gold of illegal origin (...) No operation was or is carried out outside the current legislation," it stated in a note sent to Sumaúma and OjoPúblico also in a note sent to Sumaúma and OjoPúblico that "it continues to be fully authorized to carry out its gold trading operations where it had previously been suspended according to a court decision."  the suspension was due to "a complaint that a mining cooperative [Fênix DTVM client] was allegedly engaging in gold laundering (...) The marketing of the cooperative using this extraction permit occurred according to legal requirements to ensure the regularity of the first acquisition of gold which did not indicate any suspicion that there might be any 'gold laundering' activity on the part of the cooperative," the text reads Contacted through its press office by telephone and e-mail Carol DTVM did not respond to Sumaúma and OjoPúblico The stretch of the Trans-Amazon highway between Itaituba and the municipality of Jacareacanga is a streak of red earth that crosses the jungle sea It was never known exactly whether it was its colossal force that eventually brought so much gold to the surface in the auriferous province of the Tapajós River or whether it was actually the collisions between neutron stars that hurled golden meteors onto the Earth intertwined with the thick mass of life that is the Amazon open in the forehead and with its mouth on its belly In two days on the Trans-Amazonian Highway lizards and butterflies of all colors crossing the road a giant armadillo the size of a wild boar interrupts the flow of cargo vans that transport up to 1 ton of goods to the mines invariably running over living beings along the way That is also why a bottle of soft drink costs USD 10 at the mine while a bottle of aguardiente costs no less than 1 gram of gold At kilometer 1,294 a trail of backhoe advances into the dark interior of the jungle the vegetation crushed by the weight of the steel The 54-year-old miner Marinês Feitosa knows this "I've already seen them sell whiskey in the mines for up to USD 1,000," she says "There are miners who are the devil himself the guy stuck a knife in the other guy right there," he recounts pointing to a bench on the side outside the restaurant "The knife went in through his chest and out his back The guy ended up dying on the other side of the road." but Marinês was already there with the door locked A friend of the dead man pulled out a gun and shot the killer in the head "He approached him and said: 'So you want to kill Do you think you're the only macho?' And he shot him with his 20 The two bodies lay for 24 hours in front of the restaurant The Forensic Medical Institute never arrived to take them away The neighbors had to take care of the transfer to the city.  Marinês owns the restaurant Amigo do Garimpeiro [Friend of the miner located on the edge of the Trans-Amazonian Highway in an old warehouse used by miners from Tapajós "I was raised in the mines and raised my children in the mines." Born in Marabá she grew up in Itaituba and later moved to the little village of wooden houses serves lunch and rents small rooms that house travelers "At my counter I pay USD 44 [per gram]," he says you never know if they will confiscate my gold on the way." Of all the ore that once came out of the Tapajós basin in the last 65 years much of it took off from the airstrip on the other side of the road The place is surrounded by winding trails that lead to the wounds opened in the Amazon by mining the surrounding area is known for the quality of the metal "The purity of what comes from there is good "There were about eighty flights a day here," Chico calculates recalling what the runway looked like three years ago "Even after the pandemic there were still a lot of flights so there's no one left to take [cargo on airplanes] A truck carrying an excavator passes by. A truck full of mining equipment, with a Starlink antenna (multi billionaire Elon Musk's internet) strapped to the roof "If you compare it to everything that used to circulate here who has a tire shop "in 180" and a mine 35 kilometers away Only with a 'quatinha' [engine that pumps earth from wet gullies into a carpet where the gold is trapped] We can't use more than one excavator anymore The purity of what comes from there is good "I lost more than [USD] 400 thousand," he recounts the workshop and my excavator with 4,500 hours Just a welding machine that I bought cost me [USD] 70 thousand." Money he earned from mining open on the banks of rivers or in flooded areas and streams two cooks and an excavator has an estimated profit of USD 68.6 thousand a month the destruction continues in the middle of the rainforest Marinês now works with two of the three excavators she had a miner was killed by an agent of the Environmental Institute "The girl said they would kill anyone who sold water to the police," says a federal commissioner are outraged by repression from authorities and say they are "Brazilians trying to feed their families."  Most of the profits from this illicit industry and the devastation of the Amazon remain in the hands of large entrepreneurs who are outside of Brazil in some cases Part of the reason for that is the advance of large organized crime organizations in some areas as was evident in the Yanomami Indigenous Land "I don't have electricity because of this damn reserve [protected area that is near her restaurant] She spends USD 140 a day to power her business' two power generators with diesel Does that mean that before there was no pollution She prefers to overlook that the increase in the number of pits in the Amazon has just occurred in the last few years when the first excavators arrived in Tapajós according to data from the Escolhas Institute.  A lowland mine with 21 employees and an average production of 3 kilograms of gold per month consumes 1,100 liters of diesel per day. For every gram of gold, 11 liters of diesel go up in smoke. Each kilogram of gold requires 3 kilograms of mercury what emerges is an environmental apocalypse 12.4 million tons of soil were removed in Itaituba alone in 2022 But at the same time that she has machines that grind the rainforest in seconds she takes care of a very delicate flower garden "Don't you have orchids at home?" she asks a neighbor while admiring her flowers near where the mining planes take off.   They have been in Brazil for less than a month Thairon used to work in an artisanal mine until the military of dictator Nicolás Maduro expelled all those who were not in uniform He and his wife found work at Marinês' restaurant Ana Maria cooks and Thairon started working in Marinês' mines Many Latin American foreigners have already passed through there you can hear someone speaking Spanish or Guyanese Creole "There are a lot of Brazilian miners in Guyana," he says "Many of them had already worked here in Tapajós." from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA) agrees: "It is common in Itaituba for a miner to have a brother who works in the mines in the Guyanas it is difficult to find a cab driver who is not a miner." According to him as they say around these mines when someone gets rich from gold "Today these poor miners end up being co-opted by businessmen with more purchasing power," emphasizes prosecutor Thais Medeiros from the Attorney General's Office of Santarém/Itaituba At that time he even made a necklace weighing 170 grams we were getting much more gold to work with," he laments The same happens to dentist Hélio Soltoski who has since stopped implanting gold teeth He says he has been in the region for eight years and he has already performed more than a thousand implants including on clients who asked him to exchange healthy teeth for the shine of the metal.  The family is trying to understand why the commissioner of the case confiscated the corpse's cell phone and has not returned it to this day The Civil Police of Pará did not give explanations about the commissioner's conduct nor did it answer the questions sent by Sumaúma and OjoPúblico It only limited itself to informing that "the investigation of the case was concluded within the legal term and sent to Justice".  Councilwoman Odinea Peres was contacted twice by Sumaúma and OjoPúblico but did not receive any response.   there were already people living in what is now Itaituba Dozens of indigenous peoples inhabited this area: the Maué land of the then-powerful warrior ethnic group.  revolt and riverside misery against the forces of the Portuguese Empire The city was founded in 1856 by a military Mason then the market of jaguar and other feline skins.  rubber tappers began to move into the Amazon in search of gold Conflitos Socioambientais e Resistência na Bacia do Tapajós a rubber tapper named Nilçon Pinheiro (also spelled Nilson) found deposits for the first time in the region of the Tropas River mouth founder of the Aracy Paraguassu Museum in Itaituba received a dusty notebook from a rubber tapper on his deathbed It was an airplane pilot's accounts of the years (from 1968 onwards) he had flown for the miners.  the document was forgotten in a museum closet the mystery man —there is no signature in the book— recounts the adventures he lived in the rainforest and many others he heard from his fellow miners used "by all the airplanes that flew over the area of the Tapajós mines." An excerpt tells the story of the family of Nilçon Pinheiro who in 1956 received a severance from the National Petroleum Council in exchange for the land he owned in the Amazon they left for the state of Pará in a caravan of 32 people Nilçon wanted to stay even after his father's decision to abandon the expedition and move to Manaus Researcher Regina Lucirene says that Nilçon gained fame but that the first to find gold was Raimundo Ramos "He [Raimundo] had found gold in that place [Rio Tropas] He grabbed a can of Nido milk and put the metal inside," says the museologist they gave the can to Nilçon Pinheiro in exchange for hammocks and food in an attempt to empty the Serra Pelada mine which was beginning to gain international fame the military government created the Mining Reserve in the Tapajós valley and opened a road to isolate the miners in the rainforest during the first term of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers' Party) and Marina Silva's first time as Minister of the Environment the mining reserve area was transformed into the Tapajós Environmental Protection Area (APA) the Crepori National Forest and other conservation units This little town is at the end of the Transgarimpeira highway which starts in the district of Morais Almeida crosses the Jamanxim River and continues for 150 kilometers Satellite images show the road crossing the immense jungle the open wounds from mining accompanying the road Seven trucks carrying century-old tree trunks pass along the road in a three-hour period Itaituba continued to lead gold production 4.8 tons had been sold— 2.6 of them of dubious provenance The main street of Creporizinho is a row of houses made of boards and precarious tiles laughing on moving motorcycles and barbecuing who giggle and sway over the bumpy terrain There is a group snorting cocaine on a pool table The Red Command (Brazil's largest criminal organization) is here warned a federal police officer in the city on the edge of the Transgarimpeira highway has had a farm with a private lake and a mine on the land behind his house for 20 years He is a partner and friend of the current governor of Mato Grosso and is considered a gold baron in the area an armed guard watched the gate while a Starlink antenna offered free internet to anyone passing by on the road a thick plank from a large tree serves as a support for the ice that guarantees the temperature of the beers.  What are these pilots going to do?" he says complaining about the state crackdown on mine planes "The guy is used to making USD 8,000; 10,000; 14,000 or even 20,000 a month Crime [drug trafficking] comes to offer services to the guys with old planes and operating on runways that are impossible to operate." A month after speaking to Sumaúma / OjoPúblico, Nei Garimpeiro was the target of a Federal Police operation for having  acquired more than 300 kilograms of mercury smugglers in his name and in the name of companies of which he is a partner the businessman defended himself: "I bought mercury from a company that was suitable and had authorization from the Environmental Institute and the Federal Police to sell mercury My companies and I were authorized to use mercury and buy from this company We made all our purchases with invoices and payments from current accounts to the company's current account." According to him in Brazil almost all the miners use mercury "There are more or less 10,000 mines in all of Brazil Maybe even double that: 99.5% use mercury without invoice or regularization." The highly toxic metal leaks from the mines into rivers And there are strong indications that it is causing deformities in children Visite nuestra tienda acepto recibir los boletines de OjoPúblicocon las mejores historias cada miércoles Las historias que otros no te quieren contar Las instrucciones para restablecer la clave se enviarán a la dirección de correo electrónico con la que se registró como usuario acepto recibir los boletines de OjoPúblico con las mejores historias cada miércoles UNODC Brazil together with local governments deliver social support initiative to Brazil’s largest wildcat mining regions the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Brazil supported a “Citizenship Action” in partnership with the Secretariat for Social Assistance (SEMDAS) of Itaituba City Hall and with support from the Secretariat of Justice of the State of Pará (SEJU) with a focus on the districts of Moraes de Almeida The initiative was part of the UNODC Tapajós Project which aims to develop a better understanding of working conditions and other human rights violations in the gold mining sector in the Tapajós River Basin The municipality of Itaituba has a population of over 100,000 inhabitants spread over 61,000 square kilometers Itaituba is considered the largest gold producer from wildcat mining in Brazil while the Tapajós river basin where it is situated is considered one of the largest wildcat mining regions in the world These districts included in the “Citizenship Action” were identified by the municipal government of Itaituba to receive the action and are part of the so-called "wildcat mining zone" of the municipality where there is a concentration of miners and communities historically linked with gold extraction The great distance between the urban area of Itaituba and its districts makes it difficult for many people to access basic services such as the issuing of identity cards and enrollment in assistance programs is over 300 kilometers from the urban area of Itaituba The region is characterized by a high population mobility characterized by groups of people who move in search of work in the wildcat mines The difficulty of access to health services and public safety exposes these populations to great vulnerability in a context where environmental crimes and human rights violations are frequently reported The purpose of the “Citizenship Action” was to offer social assistance and citizenship services to the population as well as to identify other demands for specialized services for the communities visited The initiative had a team of 22 professionals 3,130 people were served in all the districts visited and offered services such as the Single Registry (Bolsa Família) registration for the Federal Senior Citizens' Free Pass The “Citizenship Action” represents an important milestone of collaboration between UNODC and Itaituba's town hall aimed at mitigating the social impacts caused by wildcat mining in the region will seek in the coming months to contribute to community development in the Middle and Upper Tapajós River region by strengthening local governments and civil society organizations to enable access to social protection services The Tapajós Project is implemented by UNODC under its mandate to assist countries in implementing the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol in partnership with the University of Chicago/National Opinion Research Centre (NORC) national institutions and support from the United States Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (JTIP/PEMS) Find out more about the Tapajós Project here Find out more about the UN Trafficking Protocol here  Learn more: http://www.agenda2030.com.br/   Todas as notícias Copyright©2025 UNODC, All Rights Reserved, Legal Notice DESPITE THE INCREASE in enforcement operations against illegal mining dealerships selling machinery from global companies such as Hyundai and Caterpillar continue to sell backhoes in Itaituba a city known as an important mining hub in the country the federal agency responsible for overseeing national parks and other conservation areas destroyed 83 heavy machines used in illegal mining in 12 conservation units in the Tapajós basin In addition to the machines seized in 2023 40 more excavators have been destroyed since the beginning of this year “Mining is highly mechanized; these excavators have an incredible destructive power Considering the machinery that was destroyed imagine the profit these companies are making,” emphasizes Ronilson Vasconcelos coordinator of the ICMBio Advanced Special Unit in Itaituba a South Korean company that led the ranking of equipment found in protected lands committed to promoting “actions to become even more reliable in each area of ESG [Environmental :: Read also: Hyundai and Caterpillar lead the ranking of backhoes used in illegal mining operations Among the commitments made by Hyundai is the suspension of the contract between its official distributor in Brazil BMC Máquinas confirmed the termination of the contract with the Itaituba dealer in May 2023 They stated that it did not supply more machines or parts to BMG after the 90-day period stipulated in the termination The presence of Hyundai equipment in the BMG store even after the contract was terminated is confirmed even by the brand’s official distributor in Brazil BMC Máquinas said it had recently received information from a customer about a Hyundai equipment being sold in the BMG yard in Itaituba After tracing its origin by its serial number the distributor identified that it was a machine originally sold to a company in Minas Gerais “BMG today sells parts for Hyundai machines purchased from suppliers not authorized by Hyundai or BMC We have no way of prohibiting or interfering in this activity BMC has completely stopped selling machines for mining The result has been a drop in our market share in the region as competitors continue to supply,” the distributor said BMC also said that it had stopped selling to miners in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Pará, Goiás and Maranhão. The interruption led to a 15% to 20% drop in market share, according to BMC. The full statement can be read in Portuguese here BMG did not respond to Repórter Brasil‘s inquiries The space remains available for future statements “The public authorities have a role in preventing and punishing criminal activity The private sector should also bear these responsibilities There’s no point in talking about ESG when the product is being used to commit crimes,” argued Jorge Eduardo Dantas coordinator of the Greenpeace Indigenous Peoples Front which showed the use of heavy machinery in illegal mining was the initiation in June 2023 of a civil inquiry by the Pará Prosecutor’s Office The goal is to investigate the relationship between the sale of Hyundai machines and illegal mining in Itaituba and Jacareacanga does not rule out new investigations focusing on other brands “Depending on what we find with Hyundai it could serve as a paradigm to be applied to other companies,” she said The termination of the contract between Hyundai and BMG was formalized in May 2023 the company still presents itself as a dealer for the multinational The store’s new address in Itaituba may not bear the company’s logo, but its social media channels are full of mentions of Hyundai. A Facebook post at the end of May 2024 says that BMG represents Hyundai in Itaituba the South Korean company’s logo appears on an invitation to a machinery and equipment fair so those who cannot afford to replace the old ones with new ones opt for maintenance or part replacement “There is a whole commerce behind mining it’s not just the excavators,” says Vasconcelos from ICMBio it is possible to find maintenance services offered by equipment dealers Employees of two stores visited by Repórter Brasil Caterpillar and John Deere dealers respectively said anonymously that they offer their customers service directly in the mining areas maintenance is offered there because it would take too long to bring the excavators to the city where the mechanical workshops are located The Repórter Brasil contacted both dealers and asked if they had any mechanisms to verify the legality of the mining where the maintenance was performed Sotreq did not respond to the questions sent by email and Deltamaq stated that John Deere itself would respond on the matter Caterpillar did not comment when contacted  The space is still available for companies to position themselves Equipment sellers in Itaituba say that a “funeral atmosphere” has taken over the city after the intensification of inspections The machinery trade cooled down starting in 2022 when the crackdown on mining intensified in the region but it is still possible to see some excavators lined up in front of the stores in Itaituba “The flow has slowed down a bit; it has stagnated due to the operations,” said an employee of an equipment rental store who wished to remain anonymous estimates that stores currently sell 30% of what they used to “They burned a lot of things [backhoes] but now the burning has decreased because they [miners] are trying to work correctly or are stopping,” he emphasized “In the heyday of mining [with fewer seizures] there were people who bought two machines at once” Employees from dealing companies interviewed by Repórter Brasil said it was difficult to get a machine for immediate delivery: “The excavator arrived from the factory already reserved; it didn’t even stop at the store.” “This is because illegal gold production hasn’t stopped,” warned a source who requested anonymity they [miners] will come back in full force Sua contribuição permite que a gente continue revelando o que muita gente faz de tudo para esconder Receba as investigações daagência de jornalismo daRepórter Brasil no seu e-mail. JORNALISMODiretos HumanosMundo do TrabalhoPovos TradicionaisQuestão AgráriaSocioambientalTrabalho EscravoEnglishEspeciais PESQUISAImpactoSobreO que fazemosParceriasBibliotecaEnglish  PODCASTS  Cova medidaEsperançaJornadasTrabalheira VÍDEOSReportagensDocumentáriosOutros SOBRE NÓSQuem somosEquipeTransparênciaPrêmiosContato Diretos HumanosMundo do TrabalhoPovos TradicionaisQuestão AgráriaSocioambientalTrabalho EscravoEnglishEspeciais ImpactoSobreO que fazemosParceriasBibliotecaEnglish EDUCAÇÃO PODCASTS Cova medidaEsperançaJornadasTrabalheira ReportagensDocumentáriosOutros Quem somosEquipeTransparênciaPrêmiosContato Receba as investigações da agência dejornalismo da Repórter Brasil no seu e-mail. Desenvolvido por Studio Cubo e Design por Paula Carvalho HomeImpactoSobreO que fazemosParceriasBibliotecaEnglish HomeCova medidaEsperançaJornadasTrabalheira HomeReportagensDocumentáriosOutros APOIE Receba o conteúdo da Repórter Brasil direto na sua caixa de email The sun had just barely broken over the horizon when Benildo Rodrigues took off that morning His single-propeller Cessna plane was loaded with more than 100 pounds of gold that had been extracted from deep inside the Amazon worth more than $4 million at today’s prices had been pulled out of the rainforest illegally Police were already monitoring the plane when Rodrigues left Itaituba the place locals affectionately call Nugget City that’s become the unofficial capital of Brazil’s illegal gold trade The town sits just on the edge of the jungle — the gateway between hundreds of illegal mining operations and the merchants traders and smugglers that move the precious metal into regional and international markets Rodrigues was picked up at the airport by the owner of the plane Their plan was to eventually transport the gold all the way to the US two vehicles pulled up on Rodrigues and opened fire It was an ambush by one of Brazil’s most notorious drug gangs The showdown from roughly a year ago lays bare the rise of the Narco gold diggers have existed for the better part of a century deforesting the land and dirtying the waters a federal crackdown on environmental crimes and a gold rally that’s sent prices to record highs has driven the industry into further darkness along with dozens of interviews with miners unveil a world that is becoming increasingly lethal as a decades-old industry comes under the influence of drug gangs “The criminal organizations that have been dedicated to drug trafficking for a long time have discovered a new market,” said Andre Luiz Porreca Ferreira Cunha a federal prosecutor assigned to illegal mining investigations across the Amazon “They are creating parallel states in the middle of the Amazon there’s a growing chance that you’re bankrolling bad actors About 20% of the world’s bullion output comes from informal The producers are sometimes called “artisanal miners,” but it’s an industry that’s typically illegal untaxed and often in violation of environmental and other regulations the miners are a major factor in the destruction of the Amazon the sector is the planet’s single biggest source of global mercury contamination according to a study from the United Nations Gold – often dubbed the world’s oldest currency – has for millennia attracted underworld characters But that has been supercharged by a historic rally which gives illegal miners greater incentive to dig it up any way they can The metal reached an all-time high of $2,790.10 an ounce in late October and has more than doubled since the end of 2018 illegal mining began rising to another level under the administration of the previous president pro-garimpeiro leader who slashed funding to combat environmental crimes and fueled rain forest destruction in the interest of economic growth When his leftist rival President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva then took the reins in 2023 he launched a weaponized campaign against the wildcatters “The lack of oversight” during the previous administration “provided an opportunity for drug traffickers and factions to move into the Amazon and occupy this space,” Marta Machado Brazil’s national secretary for drug affairs While the raids have caused some illegal operations to shut down they’ve driven others deeper into the black market where hardened criminals and drug traffickers are undeterred by the increased oversight a social sciences professor at Roraima’s Federal University has been interviewing garimpeiros for years as part of his research on crime in the Amazon he didn’t hear much at all about gang members in the mining camps but by the end of 2022 “it was full of narcotraffickers,” he said The mining by the drug gangs mostly happens on Indigenous lands in remote parts of the Amazon The first indisputable evidence of this development was in 2021 at the indigenous settlement of Palimiu on the the Uraricoera River The town came under attack from garimpeiros associated with the First Capital Command Brazil’s most efficient and organized drug-trafficking group that’s known as the PCC The next day the same gangsters opened fire on federal police officers who arrived to secure the hamlet it became evident that a faction of the PCC was wildcatting,” Chagas said “The impression is that this has exploded.” the gangs not only profit off of the mining revenue they use the gold itself as an untraceable currency and can also launder cocaine cash through the precious-metals market where entire regions are controlled by cartels serves as a warning for what could happen to parts of Brazil’s Amazon if drug trafficking and associated criminal activity goes unchecked The clearest confirmation of the interconnections between Brazil’s gangs and gold comes during shootouts that authorities report on — like the one that Rodrigues was caught in on the roads in Manaus Rodrigues and his companion both suffered gunshot wounds and fled their vehicle to seek shelter in nearby businesses who were tracking the flight as part of the crackdown against illegal mining arrived on the scene within a few minutes and seized the gold stash The attackers had just enough time to take off in a getaway car They left a van behind along with a Glock pistol camouflage outfits and tire-puncture spikes They are linked to the transnational crime group called Red Command that originated in Rio de Janeiro a federal police chief for Amazonas state who has arrested suspects in the case Authorities who took Rodrigues and his associate into custody are still trying to figure out which criminal gang they work for But officials say that the size the bullion hoard the largest gold seizure in the history of Amazonas state makes it clear that a sophisticated organization with plenty of funding must have been involved “The large quantity seized reveal that the carriers were involved in a much larger criminal operation with a clear structure and division of labor probably an organized crime group,” Federal Judge Marcelo Pires Soares wrote in a decision related to the case Rodrigues and his associate were convicted in March and received a three-year non-custodial sentence and additional fines (The maximum sentences for illegally transporting gold are relatively lax in Brazil.) Before that Rodrigues spent nearly four months at prison healthcare facilities A bullet caused bone damage in one of his arms and he had to undergo surgery to avoid losing the limb Rodrigues declined to be interviewed out of fear for his personal safety Public prosecutors and the defense have both submitted appeals that are before a court Authorities sold the illegally mined gold at auction for 16.6 million reais (about $2.8 million) the court in Amazonas state that is handling the case said in a response to questions The city of Itaituba took off in the 1950s with the discovery of gold-rich stream beds and it still cherishes its culture of wildcatting Most locals descend from settlers who were urged by military governments in the 20th century to mine and clear forests The municipal hymn is an ode to the gold diggers and a statue of a garimpeiro panning for metal nuggets is the most prominent landmark on the riverfront boardwalk It’s similar to how California still celebrates the 1849 gold rush by calling itself the Golden State which is named for the ore-rich mountains nearby nearly half of all the gold produced in Brazil 229 tons worth more than $20 billion at current prices Itaituba and two neighboring municipalities produced or laundered 86% of Brazil’s illegal gold between 2019 and 2020 according to a report by federal prosecutors Most of the so-called artisanal mines of today are a far cry from a prospector setting out with a pickax When five garimperios who belonged to a regional drug gang were killed by police during a September raid authorities then went in to make some of the assets unusable: Officials destroyed 30 excavators and 22 pickups at the site on indigenous lands in Mato Grosso state Garimpeiros dig out the headwaters of jungle streams to filter gold dust and nuggets from the soil excavating the banks and building terraced pools to collect water The jungle is crisscrossed with miles upon miles of airstrips for transporting machinery in and gold out and the rivers are dotted with hulking mining barges drug runners have a history of sharing logistics with garimpeiros that dates back at least to the 1990s and the continued growth in the cocaine trade has spawned more transit routes Cocaine production continues to boom in neighboring Colombia according to the most recent data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Demand for the powerful stimulant is growing across Europe while it appears to be contracting in the US This shift in the market makes trafficking routes through Brazil’s Amazon more important Most of the cocaine smuggled through the rainforest to the Atlantic coast goes to Africa and then on to Europe “The same logistics used for narcotrafficking are used for illegal mining,” said Francisco Xavier Medeiros de Castro a colonel with Roraima state’s military police who currently serves in an advisory role for the state’s legislature on security Pilots in the region “don’t want to know if they are working for traffickers or garimpeiros They do their flights and get paid,” he said gangs start out selling drugs to garimpeiros and then end up in mining for themselves a police chief in Mato Grosso state who carries out operations against illegal miners on the Sarare indigenous territory “People from Red Command spend time at the mines because they need money,” Berte said “This is the danger — that the activities get mixed.” more than a year of raids against illegal mining means that many of the small-scale operators are shutting down But the people who have worked in the jungle for generations have no viable alternatives for work Interviews with those involved in the industry show that instead of returning to towns like Itaituba going deeper into the forest and into the hands of the gangs like the PCC and Red Command “What is the economic alternative for 30,000 to 40,000 garimpeiros,” said Chagas of Roraima’s Federal University “The fear is that this link between narcos and garimpeiros grows and turns into something more violent — that it goes completely out of control.” The rise of narco gold diggers underscores how Latin America pays a disproportionate price for the consequences of global drug prohibition Trafficking proceeds undermine the rule of law across the region and encourage destruction of ecosystems One of the investigations that Sofia Freitas Silva a federal prosecutor for Brazil’s western Amazon took on in 2024 includes evidence that PCC members were involved in an illegal mining operation she’s careful to note that most illegal mining investigations don’t have proven links to narcos “It’s not a majority of the cases,” she said a lawyer who was based in Itaituba until recently and has defended garimpeiros said that one major problem stems from the government not clearly distinguishing between those operating mines illegally and those that have all the necessary permits The broad crackdown has left many without much alternate choice than to go underground “Gold didn’t stop getting produced at all these places,” Hammoud said “The government is forcing them to work illegally.” a second-generation garimpeiro who operates a permitted mine He resents being grouped with criminal miners and traffickers who invade indigenous lands to extract gold the government that encouraged his father to move to Itaituba more than 40 years ago He sued Brazil’s environmental regulator in 2023 for destroying a backhoe generators and other equipment at his camp during a raid they used to say we were heroes,” Mortari said first you fly up and across the Tapajos river Blankets of smoke waft through the air as ranchers set fires to clear brush The terrain then gives way to the classic Amazon forest canopy: The deep green is dotted with yellow and purple flowering trees As you approach the Serra Dourada mining settlement meandering garimpeiro sites that stretch for miles into the horizon Locals like Mortari are determined to continue their frontier way of life When the government cracks down on one area many garimpeiros pack up and move to other mineral-rich parts of Brazil’s Amazon that aren’t being targeted After the raid at Mortari’s mine last year the 20 mine workers on site didn’t want to go back to Itaituba They spread out to other mines in the area many of which operate illegally — and some and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Gruyere gold mine joint venture partners Gold Fields and Gold Road Resources reach agreement on a friendly deal to consolidate ownership. The latest 10 include the proposed copper-nickel mine in Minnesota under a joint venture between Glencore and Teck. Exploration and mining of the energy metal has for 12 years been banned or largely restricted for environmental reasons in British Columbia, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Jack Lundin, president and CEO, hailed Filo del Sol as "one of the most significant greenfield discoveries in the last 30 years." Artisanal mining is a common activity in various regions of Brazil but despite its economic benefits it also faces significant challenges that expose workers to multiple risks including the use of mercury in mineral extraction These challenges are especially pronounced for Brazilian women The region where Maria and Cleiciani work is known as the Tapajós Mineral Province, also referred to as the Tapajós Gold Province. This geological region spans approximately 100,000 square kilometers in the heart of the Amazon Basin and is rich in mineral deposits, particularly gold. Mining in this area has a long history, dating back to the 19th century when gold was first discovered. Today, the Tapajós Mineral Province is home to several large-scale mining operations, as well as countless small-scale, formal and informal mining activities. Maria, 57, has been working in artisanal gold mining in Pará for the past 30 years . After the death of her parents, she took over the responsibility for her family's mine, which employs 22 workers. "The region's mining activity is fueled by the presence of migrant miners, who come in search of work and end up living in precarious conditions” -says Maria. “The lack of basic infrastructure, such as sanitation, housing, and health, is a reoccurring problem” Cleiciane, 34, is following the footsteps of her parents and grandparents working in Marupá community as a subsistence miner. In her experience women are often hired to work in the kitchen of the mine, while men are responsible for mineral extraction. Despite the difficulties, Maria and other miners are fighting to work in a regulated and safer manner. While seeking to support their families Maria and her fellow miners seek to generate employment and provide security to workers and nearby communities. "The only thing we want now in terms of work is our legalization, our right to work. To work with dignity, to be seen as a working citizen," she declares. Maria argues that women have an essential role in changing the image of the miner, often associated with the figure of the villain. She believes women can show that it is possible to work with honesty and dignity in this sector. However, there is still a struggle for equal opportunities and appreciation of women's work in artisanal mining. "It is necessary to see the woman miner as someone determined and capable of doing work as important as that of men," she reflects. Both Maria and Cleiciane live through the challenges that still exist in artisanal and small scale gold mining and stress the importance of seeking more just and sustainable solutions for all involved. Even though the artisanal mining as a profession in Brazil is going through a difficult times Cleiciane harvests hope for the future: "we are modernizing more and more each day, now being able to have an opportunity to work without mercury with this new project...and thus be able to work more peacefully and provide greater support to our employees." Maria explains that previously mercury was burned outdoors, leading to serious health problems. Currently, she uses the retort, which allows for the recovery and reuse of mercury, reducing the amount of metal used. Maria is enthusiastic about the new methods being developed because she believes they will bring more safety and quality to the work of artisanal miners. Both argue it is important that the government and other institutions help to find solutions to the problems faced by artisanal miners, ensuring a safer and more sustainable activity for all involved. The overall goal of the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership is to protect human health and the environment from the releases of mercury. © United Nations Environment Programme This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “The rule of saw” Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents It will galvanise international co-operation over writing rules for the ocean bed The once-banned weapons are making a comeback to deter Russia Russia’s European neighbours hate landmines. They are installing them anyway The number of strikes against jihadists is rising. Is it 2001 all over again? When the Federal Police of the Brazilian state of Paraná launched an operation into international drug trafficking in November 2020 he thought it would be wise to hide in an illegal gold mine in Itaituba (in the state of Pará) Grota seemed like a successful businessman in Pará But his businesses in Brazil’s most mining-rich municipality were already on the authorities’ radar Grota would become a target of the police in another operation He and an airline pilot identified as his business partner – who was arrested in 2004 on charges of providing services to renowned drug trafficker Fernandinho Beira-Mar – controlled dozens of aircraft and clandestine airstrips used to transport gold and cocaine The police’s investigations shed light on the connections between drug traffickers and businessmen suspected of being involved in the so-called “narcogarimpos” This model was adopted by drug cartels in the Amazon to launder money through gold mining – a market with inspection gaps and loopholes for criminal practices Repórter Brasil followed the trail of ten police operations launched over the last five years and delved into more than 17,000 pages of documents The police investigated a total of R$27 billion in suspicious assets and businesses arrested 225 people and ordered the seizure of 236 aircraft This is the case with the accusations involving Grota named by the police as the leader of a criminal organization and head of narcogarimpos the businessman overturned a court order for his arrest and recovered seized aircraft Grota’s defense lawyers calls the Narcos Gold investigation “a story with crazy aspects” and claims that the investigations, even though they have been going on for almost three years, “haven’t managed to add a single piece of evidence to the charges”. Read the full response here The police say that the group led by Grota illegally moved around R$1 billion in Pará between 2017 and 2020 To launder the money from drug trafficking he allegedly used aliases and front companies to buy and sell farms Convicted at first instance in Maranhão and imprisoned in June 2018 for leading a militia group of military police officers – accused of drug and arms trafficking as well as bank robberies – Grota was released on bail in October of that year Grota settled in Itaituba as a cattle rancher and gold investor In a short time in “Gold City” he reported R$14 million the following year to the Brazilian IRS according to the police investigations seen by Repórter Brasil One of the group’s Cessna planes appeared in three different police operations involving money laundering and the transportation of gold Grota’s defense denies the accusations of illicit enrichment and maintains that “such allegations do not match with reality given that all assets have been duly declared and their taxes fully collected” Grota and the airline pilot identified as his business partner managed at least 12 airstrips and 23 aircraft to carry out the crimes Air routes in the Amazon are one of the main links between drug trafficking and illegal mining the region is fertile ground for different criminal organizations “It’s an exploitation of the routes,” summarizes researcher Roberto Magno from the Geography of Violence and Crime Laboratory at Pará State University He says that the same logic applies to the boats that operate illegally on the Amazon rivers Cocaine seizures, which represent only part of the drug trafficking in the region, tripled in the period, reaching 32 tons last year – this amount could earn up to R$8.5 billion on the international market Criminal groups also benefit from the fluctuating prices of these products, and can direct investments towards one or the other, depending on the financial return. “The price of cocaine fell in 2020 because of hyperproduction has gone up in price,” says Melina Risso research director at the Igarapé Institute explaining another reason that has attracted drug trafficking to the illegal mines Grota entered the radar of the Federal Police in 2019, following the seizure of half a ton of cocaine on a boat in Santarém (Pará) suspects investigated in this case were close to Silvio Berri Berri, who has a long history in the drug trade, is considered by the police to be Grota’s partner. In 2004, he was extradited from Paraguay to serve a 20-year sentence in Brazil after working as a pilot for renowned drug trafficker Fernandinho Beira-Mar he was also accused of taking part in a scheme to sell cocaine to Africa and Europe run by Sergio Roberto de Carvalho “We can’t see organized crime as a single chain of command That’s why we’re going to find several people acting in different schemes,” explains Magno The air routes managed by Grota and Berri could be Hollywood material after being chased by a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) fighter jet a pilot from the group managed to land the plane on a clandestine airstrip The ashes were later analyzed by the police and indicate that the cargo was cocaine There were at least eight pilots who worked for Berri and Grota and were involved in criminal practices in the Amazon aircraft linked to some of them were caught transporting gold from illegal mines in the municipality of Japurá One of the pilots was already under investigation for using the same route to traffic cocaine Grota’s defense refutes the accusation that his client was a partner of “known traffickers” in the records of the police investigation there is no “telephone interception or any proof that he at least knows such people” After mapping Grota’s allies in different investigations the police launched Operation Narcos Gold in 2021 The specific target was Grota and the group he allegedly headed The investigation arrested some of his associates such as lawyer Helenice Carvalho and her brother who was identified as a proxy for the gold mines and farms acquired by Grota The police suspect that the lawyer helped Grota escape She was accused by agents of actively participating in money laundering by helping to “disguise” her client’s earnings from drug trafficking Married to the superintendent of the Civil Police in Itaituba Helenice found out about the operation before the agents arrived at her house at 6 am on November 4 she sent messages to her husband and two police battalion chiefs in the region Helenice also contacted Grota’s private security guard Based on the Federal Police’s investigations the Pará Public Prosecutor’s Office charged Grota in March 2022 with drug trafficking two judges declared themselves incompetent to rule on the case amid a dispute over which court would be appropriate for the prosecution removing the case from the Santarém court and sending it to the organized crime court in Belém “There are indications that a sophisticated criminal organization was established in the west of the state of Pará with the purpose of transporting large quantities of narcotics landing strips on farms and illegal gold mines that also served for money laundering (…) led by Grota,” says the decision a new legal appeal suspended the proceedings it will be the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) that will determine the appropriate court for the case since the arrest and seizure warrants were annulled for analysis by the new magistrate The law firm representing Grota and his brother said that “the technical defense is convinced that the undisputed innocence of the accused will be proven in the end” Helenice Carvalho said she would not comment on the police’s accusations (read the full statements) Grota remains in the spotlight as a cattle rancher At least 2,000 head of cattle passed through the Vale do Ouro farm between 2020 and 2022 according to animal transportation guides accessed by Repórter Brasil The purchase of cattle to launder money from drug trafficking is also part of the businessman’s scheme Desenvolvido por Studio Cubo e Design por Paula Carvalho is home to several construction projects of strategic interest for the Brazilian government residents are worried they will not share in the spoils A dirt road divides the neighborhoods of Vila Nova and Vila Caçula which skirts the edge of the city of Itaituba A team from Pública attempted to interview some local residents From the wooden stairs leading up to their houses I won’t say anything," said a man with brown skin His wife sitting next to him also responded with a firm "no." and sewage runs beneath the houses straight into the river a situation not limited to Vila Nova and Vila Caçula while in the city center the sidewalks are so uneven that it is easier to walk in the road looking into four buildings until we learned that the city government has no headquarters Itaituba is the largest city in the mid-Tapajós region which in the coming years will host several infrastructure projects that the government regards as key for the Brazilian economy the construction of transshipment stations that will load soy and corn onto riverboats for shipment to various ports and an industrial waterway and the paving of federal highways have transformed the west of Pará into an important hub for the agribusiness sector as a strategic corridor for the transport of produce from the agricultural heartlands of the state of Mato Grosso the government is planning seven new hydroelectric plants in the region Three are located on the River Tapajós (two of these will affect Itaituba directly) The project currently furthest along is 8,040-megawatt-capacity plant called São Luiz do Tapajós which is due to be constructed just 65 kilometers (40 miles) from Itaituba If the required impact studies are approved by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) the federal environmental agency in charge of licensing the project The project has an estimated construction cost of $10.5 billion and is slated to begin operation in 2020 every infrastructure project that might cause environmental damage must pass through a multi-step licensing process the interested company must conduct a study assessing the project’s impact on the environment the company must use them to propose compensation programs for any damage resulting from the project Itaituba residents are expressing concern that the benefits of development may pass the city by the São Luiz hydroelectric plant will be the third largest of its kind in Brazil in terms of the amount of power it supplies Itaituba is at risk of suffering the same problems as the city of Altamira where the Belo Monte plant is currently being built Altamira is suffering the consequences of rapid "We don’t know if this situation is going to be of benefit to us president of the Itaituba Forum of Organizations an umbrella group that represents twenty-two institutions including the local Order of Attorneys of Brazil The Forum was set up to represent the interests of Itaituba’s business community during the implementation of the projects "There’s a businessman here who bought nearly 200,000 PPEs [Personal Protective Equipment units] Not even one glove," Menezes complained "He prepared himself to sell equipment to the companies building the ports They brought everything with them." For Menezes the interests of the big companies that come to the city are trumping the interests of local business The mood of concern that has taken hold in Itaituba is not without foundation comes up frequently in conversations with Itaituba residents Altamira "is finished." "I have four siblings in Altamira and I went there to visit," she said robbery." She predicted Itaituba will suffer a similar fate with the construction of the São Luiz plant on the Tapajós the compensation scheme does not account for the increased cost of living in Altamira which is itself a direct consequence of the Belo Monte project there were reportedly 28,000 people working on the construction site —10,000 more than the number IBAMA authorized in licensing the project Yet measures to reduce the impact on Altamira and four other affected municipalities have not been augmented accordingly Dom Erwin Kräutler is a bishop who has been in the Xingu River region for fifty years and is president of the Indigenous Missionary Council where people would sit out on the streets in the evenings and chat According to the not-yet-approved impact studies for the São Luiz plant 13,000 construction workers are likely to come to the mid-Tapajós region as well as 12,500 other people searching for work and business opportunities these numbers may end up being much higher — as happened with the Belo Monte plant Bonfim is the principal of the largest private school in Itaituba which stands to benefit from the arrival of new families to the city she is trying to warn her students about the impacts that the São Luiz do Tapajós dam might bring with it "I think the population hasn’t been sufficiently informed about the project about both the good and bad things that it will bring It needs to be well explained," she said "Today our children play outside the house They’re soon going to lose this freedom because of the population increase that is coming People say ‘but isn’t development a good thing?’ Is it good With the wave of enterprise that is coming to the mid-Tapajós region the federal government and local municipalities are drawing up plans aimed at guiding regional development In September 2014, the federal Ministry of Planning published the Four-Year Participative Territorial Plan for the Tapajós Region It was compiled with a number of local municipalities including Itaituba and the cities of Novo Progresso Federal investment of $662 million has been earmarked for the region a transshipment station belonging to the multinational Bunge has been operational since April 2014 And another three transshipment stations belonging to the companies Cargill and Hidrovias do Brasil are currently in the environmental licensing stage and moving along quickly The Tapajós has become a key route for the agribusiness sector representing a reduction in transportation costs of 34 percent for the 2015/16 harvest which had to travel a longer route through the ports of Santos in the state of São Paulo and Paranaguá in the state of Paraná Flooding of indigenous lands to construct dams is forbidden by Brazilian law and so far the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has filed eight cases against the project attempting to guarantee the rights of local populations There is also a Regional Sustainable Development Plan for the Tapajós region aimed at reducing the impact of the São Luiz project the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic has been dragging its heels and things are moving slowly The same plan is being applied in the Xingu region "in order to provide for a region characterized historically by the fragile presence of the state and the public policies necessary for its development," the Xingu plan’s website states The impact studies having now been submitted the São Luiz do Tapajós hydroelectric project is waiting for approval from IBAMA the Itaituba city government put together a multidisciplinary technical team to analyze the impact studies and demand certain guarantees from IBAMA for the benefit of the city the city administration intends to study how best to mitigate the effects of the project the technicians noticed a series of omissions from the impact studies an environmental engineer and Itaituba’s secretary of the environment Rocha argues that the study bases its findings on inaccurate data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) indicating that the population of Itaituba actually decreased from 118,000 in 2007 to 97,400 in 2010 this occurred because IBGE researchers did not visit the entire municipality which includes areas up to 30 kilometers (19 miles) away from the city as well as rural and mining areas accessible only by air The disagreement prompted Itaituba to take legal action against the federal government and the IBGE Itaituba now receives funds from the federal government that correspond to a municipality of more than 100,000 inhabitants so the government’s official population figure for Itaituba remains 97,400 even though the city administration holds that the population of Itaituba is 120,000 there are plenty of hospital beds available (4.48 beds per 1,000 inhabitants; the Ministry of Health recommends 2.5-3 beds per 1,000 inhabitants) and 100 percent of the city’s children between 7-14 years of age are in school The city government argues that the reality is different and as such the measures suggested to reduce the impacts of the hydroelectric plant will not be sufficient even using the federal government’s low-ball population figure there are already too few hospital beds: just 1.4 beds per 1,000 people "The whole environmental impact study was based on false data," said Rocha the company responsible for the impact studies presented that research and held a meeting to hear to the opinions of local representatives "They understood that our participation is of fundamental importance for the process to be done in the correct way but they didn’t make it clear where we stand," said Rocha He argues that the research should be redone in order to readjust the projections of social impacts the project would be able to propose compensation measures that correspond more accurately to the reality of the city If the impacts are already of concern for the city administration and local residents from an economic point of view the projects have yet to advance the city’s fledgling industrial sector taking a raw material and transforming it – Itaituba has almost nothing like this," said Eugenio Viana the city’s secretary of economic development together with the new transshipment stations will promote the city’s production of soy-based products very little concrete development has actually taken place so far "It’s difficult to say whether it’s going to happen in this or that sector," said Viana "Probably it’s going to open up a whole range of opportunities Gold remains Itaituba’s principal resource around 60 percent of the local economy is based on mineral exploration Public services account for between 20 and 25 percent with commerce accounting for the remaining 15 to 20 percent The city’s total gross domestic product is $230,000 Most of the gold that leaves Itaituba is mined illegally ten illegal kilos leave the city," Viana explained Without international certification (the Kimberley seal created in order to prevent illegal diamonds fueling conflicts like those in Africa with 300 prospectors present on indigenous lands a geologist and vice-director of the Tapajós Association of Gold Mines (AMOT) the high rate of illegal mining reflects the federal government’s poor management of the region Cabral Filho argues that small prospectors should receive assistance in order to legitimize their activities and had taught the prospectors to look after the land we would all be better off," he explained and punishment isn’t always effective." Among the consequences of the illegal mining is the serious risk to conservation of the region’s environment. Changes in the color of the Tapajós in recent years sparked a public petition demanding research into the river’s water quality The suspicion is that dredgers who dig the riverbed in search of gold are also spilling mercury and cyanide into the water putting the health of local residents at risk Small-time prospectors account for most of the mining activity in the region but Itaituba’s gold has also attracted mid-size mining companies from abroad Among those that have requested authorization to conduct research from the National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM) are the English company Serabi Gold the Canadian companies Eldorado Gold Corporation and the American company Brazilian Resources Eldorado Gold Corporation is responsible for the Tocantinzinho site located 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Itaituba which was licensed in 2012 and is currently awaiting the revision of economic research The project consists of an open-pit gold mine with reserves estimated at 60 metric tons of gold and a lifespan of 11 years $12 million has been invested in the project with no decent roads or a reliable source of electricity for the mine such large-scale mining projects are not viable But with all the construction work planned for the region that will soon change large-scale underground mining brings its own set of problems In addition to deforesting the land and generating waste material gold mining consumes immense quantities of water and energy and often pollutes any ground and surface water with the chemicals used during extraction is likely to involve the use of explosives and chemical agents such as cyanide and hydrochloric acid just 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) from the Tocantinzinho River The interest in the Tapajós region from established companies has increased in recent years the DNPM received a total of 1,445 requests between 2010 and 2014 more than five times the number it received between 2005 and 2009 According to AMOT and the secretary of economic development the growth of gold mining in the city has more to do with the acquisition of equipment than with the arrival of the large infrastructure projects A type of backhoe known as a PC can reduce the time to extract gold from a month to as little as ten days Itaituba has received by far the highest number of mining requests among the municipalities located in the Tapajós region In the last ten years it has received 1,717 — 90 percent of which relate to gold extraction — compared to 353 in Jacareacanga and 262 in Trairão With a total territory of approximately 62,000 square kilometers (39,000 square miles) the municipality of Itaituba is formed primarily by a number of areas of environmental protection there are two indigenous reservations belonging to the Munduruku tribe the Praia do Índio and the Praia do Mangue which compete for space with residential neighborhoods there are also several preservation areas that are being threatened by economic interests in the region President Dilma Rousseff changed the boundaries of seven of these preservation areas by means of an interim legal measure All these changes were made to accommodate hydroelectric projects According to a statement published at the time by the Instituto Chico Mendes (ICMBio) a federal institute that manages conservation areas Amazônia National Park was reduced by 6.7 percent 2.5 percent of which was removed to make way for the lake of the São Luiz do Tapajós plant the National Forests of Itaituba I (2.5 percent reduction) Itaituba II (7.9 percent reduction) and Crepori (0.2 percent reduction) as well as the Tapajós Area of Environmental Protection (1.3 percent reduction) all had their areas reduced thanks to the São Luiz do Tapajós and Jatobá plants the areas reduced by the measure amounted to a little more than the territory of the city of Salvador As part of its environmental protection policy Itaituba participated in the Pará’s state Green Municipalities program the objective of which is to combat illegal deforestation in Pará "How can we control illegal deforestation if the region is being targeted internationally?" asked Hilário Rocha referring to the infrastructure and hydroelectric projects that are coming to the city "It’s hard to get the municipality to set targets and provide data when the federal government has an interest in the region," he argues and what are the benefits for the city?" asked Menezes of the Itaituba Forum of Organizations While the city is racing to prepare itself for the coming changes local residents continue to survive on the promise of progress Other Special Reporting Initiatives Articles by Agência Pública Dams or indigenous land: the battle over the Munduruku frontier Exclusive: Funai confirms that land threatened by dam projects belongs to indigenous tribe Nobody listened to them: fishing communities to be displaced by dams want a say in their future Brazil's Amazon is the largest rainforest in the world the storehouse of one-eighth of the planet's fresh water and a primary source of its oxygen Protecting these precious resources was the focus of nearly two decades of federal environmental policy in Brazil But the current administration is now rolling back regulation making way for greater deforestation and development may become more common under the current President Dilma Rousseff's government longstanding rules that curtail deforestation and protect millions of square kilometers of watershed have been reigned in Rousseff issued an executive order to shrink or repurpose seven protected woodlands making way for hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure projects and to legalise settlements by farmers and miners The president is clear in her reasoning: Unleashing further development in the Amazon rainforest is essential to maintaining the sort of economic growth that over the past decade lifted 30 million Brazilians out of poverty and made Brazil the world's sixth-largest economy like this swath cut into the forest close to the Amazonia National Park in Itaituba has potentially become easier under the current government President Rousseff authorised a change that transferred much responsibility for environmental oversight from Brazil’s widely respected federal environmental agency The government believes that locals are better-positioned to ensure that loggers and miners work legally But others say local authorities lack the resources needed to police the Amazon and are more susceptible to intimidation and bribes with few federal agents on the ground left to patrol the reserves illegal destruction of the rainforest becomes apparent only once the area is big enough to be detected - cloud cover permitting - by satellites or rare and costly aerial surveillance Because the state government grants the licenses for the lumberyards federal officials inspect them less frequently now The current government's policies have opened up the way for plans to build 21 dams in the Amazon by 2021 Among them is a hydroelectric dam in Brazil's Amazonia National Park - the oldest national park in the region - on the Tapajos River The project will inundate a large section of woodland upstream as well as the village of Pimental and which is home to about 800 fishermen and small farmers A man sits in the village of Areias in the state of Para Para is the site of a controversial project to build the world's third-largest dam on the Xingu River - something which will displace thousands of tribespeople A boy walks down part of the Trans-Amazonian highway in Itaituba gateway to Brazil's oldest national park and half a dozen nature reserves in the vast Amazon wilderness Sebastiana de Sousa and her son Antonio Sousa pose for a photograph inside their house next to the Trans Amazonian highway Youths herd cows near the village of Areias Two men walk in the village of Novo Horizonte near the Trans-Amazonian highway A boy looks at children playing football in the village of Pimental which will be flooded by a planned hydroelectric dam on the Tapajos River A woman arranges flowers inside a church in Pimentel Villagers there are angry that the government has yet to provide details about the dam An elderly woman rests next to her grandchild in a hammock inside their house in Pimental Some villagers here recently chased contractors for the electric company out of town and destroyed concrete markers the workers placed in the area A group of children watch television in the village of Areias A boat appears dwarfed on the massive Tapajos river The river's rapids are renowned as a habitat for many species of exotic fish and a source of water for endangered wildlife including jaguar and the ararajuba A man carries a bucket with fish from the Tapajos river in Pimental An aerial view shows illegal deforestation close to the Amazonia National Park a port used by agribusiness giant Cargill to load and unload grain on the right bank of the Tapajós – one of the most important rivers in the Brazilian Amazon – has operated under a provisional license for a year and a half The company was granted an automatic extension of its operating license without approval by technicians from the State Department for the Environment and Sustainability (Secretaria de Estado de Meio Ambiente e Sustentabilidade SEMAS) – a mandatory stage in the licensing process The problem is that some of the companies’ duties have not been fulfilled – such as conducting a study on the impacts caused on the Munduruku indigenous people who own land in the port’s catchment area – in addition to complaints from residents about the adverse consequences of the enterprise poverty and vulnerability,” says Jesielita Roma Gouveia head of the Social Assistance Reference Centre (Centro de Referência de Assistência Social which implements public policies to assist socially vulnerable people Repórter Brasil went to Itaituba and heard reports of sexual exploitation pedestrians hit by motor vehicles and widespread insecurity “Environmental agencies have been slow to complete license renewal analyses and it makes it difficult to inspect whether the requirements imposed on the enterprise are solving them properly,” says Maurício Guetta a lawyer at Socio-Environmental Institute (Instituto Socioambiental an organization advocating environmental rights Automatic extension of the license is supported by a resolution from Brazil’s National Environmental Council (Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente which allows this provisional measure “until the competent environmental agency makes a final decision.” But according to information obtained from SEMAS through the Access to Information Law there is “no time limit for the conclusion of the technical report on the license renewal process.” “In practice, this is automatic license renewal,” warns Pedro Martins, a lawyer working with the organization Terra de Direitos, which launched a report early this year on the socio-environmental impacts of Cargill’s port The document warns of “lack of essential information and poor technical quality” of the company’s environmental impact studies Last year, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that granting automatic licenses without analysis by environmental technicians was unconstitutional “The authorities are granting a benefit so that the company can keep operating It’s as if renewing the license wasn’t necessary,” Martins adds Cargill stated that “automatic extension complied with the legislation” and that “all requirements [of the operating license] are fully met.” another important route for agricultural production from Brazil’s North region; and the Tapajós-Amazonas waterway which starts there and runs northwards through these two water bodies to reach ports capable of receiving ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or other international destinations “What kind of development is this where you live in a city with open sewage with no basic sanitation and where you have to buy water to drink?,” says Raione Lima Campos a lawyer at the Pastoral Land Commission (Comissão Pastoral da Terra the state has not invested in public policies “Sexual violence in our area has always been strong but we can’t pretend that it has not increased,” says Yasmin Correa a lawyer at the Specialized Reference Centre for Social Assistance (Centro de Referência Especializado em Assistência Social The situation is especially serious in Campo Verde Cargill planned to build a parking lot for 150 trucks within the port area but it changed the proposal in the following year: only 15 parking spaces would be reserved in its internal area for trucks to unload and a yard for 400 trucks would be created in Campo Verde “Lots of girls stay in the middle of those trucks It’s a difficult crime to prove,” says Maria José de Barros head of the Itaituba Child and Adolescent Protection Council Itaituba banned the circulation of trucks in the Miritituba district to prevent accidents with pedestrians in the urban area like the one that killed Edizangela Vieira’s son in 2019 left the plate on the table and went to buy a soda I’ve had to go to the side of the road myself many times to avoid being massacred by a truck,” she says Campo Verde began to concentrate almost all support services for truck drivers such as petrol stations and hotels “There must be four or five nightclubs [in Campo Verde] which appeared after the port business,” says a resident who asked not to be named A social worker claims to have witnessed a teenager being exploited in one of these establishments after receiving a complaint from the Child and Adolescent Protection Council but there was a very narrow alley next to the entrance that led to rooms she says she found a teenage girl working as an ‘escort’ for a truck driver – a service for which the brothel owner had charged R$ 2,000 in addition to being a victim of sexual exploitation “The owner of the place kept the money,” she added “Children do not prostitute themselves; they are sexually exploited and they have no idea of the problem and its serious consequences for their future lives so they think it’s cool to get some money,” adds Barros from Itaituba’s Children and Adolescent Protection Council In a statement, Cargill criticizes “the attempt to link the company’s presence in Miritituba to such serious issues as abuse and exploitation of children and adolescents.” The company informs that it brought the “Na Mão Certa” programme to the area developed by Childhood Brasil to prevent sexual exploitation of children and adolescents on highways among other activities” aimed both its own staff and service providers Promoting actions to reduce the impacts of “problems resulting from the increase in migration” is one of the requirements conditioning the license granted to Cargill in 2014 The requirement remains in force and is handled by Association of Port Terminals and Cargo Transshipment Stations of the Amazon Basin (Associação dos Terminais Portuários e Estações de Transbordo de Cargas da Bacia Amazônica which represents the companies operating ports in the region Documents obtained by Repórter Brasil under the Access to Information Law show that four lectures on sexual violence were held in the truck screening yard shared by Cargill and Unitapajós in Campo Verde But Itaituba social workers and civil society groups warn that the actions fall short That’s a very weak measure considering the impacts,” says sociologist Wwyncla Paz de Aguiar an organization advocating diversity in the Tapajós area which is why we must do more than holding individual truck drivers accountable,” he adds from the coordination of public policies for women in Itaituba who has attended these awareness-raising activities “We carry the message and its acceptance is good but the culture of violence won’t change overnight,” she points out There is also criticism about the financial support provided by the Port Terminals Association – on behalf of the companies that operate ports in Itaituba – to the Miritituba CRAS opened in 2015 also as part of the agenda to mitigate the impacts of the ports There is where the City promotes so-called social strengthening activities a public policy designed to prevent violence and provide protection for socially vulnerable people More than 60 children and youth aged 6-17 participate in capoeira 35 elderly people attend a collective breakfast The Association’s monthly donation is R$ 5,500 which has recently been used to purchase food items and teaching materials: milk “It’s R$ 5,500 from four multinationals. Speaking specifically about Cargill, it provides almost no help to the district,” complains an activist with Miritituba’s social movements. Cargill earned was R$ 125.8 billion in Brazil in 2022 – a 22% increase over the previous year Social movements also complain that they are unable to obtain information about taxes or other contributions paid to the City they do not have parameters to demand more robust action against violence “The City’s revenues from the ports are very obscure We have no information on how much these ports pass on to Itaituba to be invested in public services,” says Raione Lima Campos from CPT Even the Management Council for Inspection of Investments and Enterprises in the Miritituba District– the agency responsible for monitoring the operations of the ports – have trouble to actually know the figures president of the agency created in 2019 to monitor the actions of port companies Repórter Brasil contacted the City to find out the amount and destination of the taxes but had not received a reply when this article was finished conducting the study is mandatory to project the specific impacts on that population The document should have been delivered within four months from when the operating license was granted in April the preliminary work plan for that study was not filed with FUNAI (National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples) until 5 years later has been discussing improvements to the project with the federal agency and communications were exchanged between the parties but FUNAI has not issued a definitive opinion on the matter,” the company points out the Munduruku interviewed by Repórter Brasil complain about the increase in violence Many families prohibited their children from playing alone in the Tapajós drugs and prostitution,” says Karo Munduruku one of the indigenous residents of Praia do Mangue “The fish is completely full of soybean pomace That’s very bad,” says indigenous chief Brazilino Painhum Munduruku the traditional indigenous diet was replaced by processed food “We didn’t use to have so much hypertension and diabetes Now we treat many intestinal illnesses caused by consumption of soft drinks snacks and canned foods,” says Edilene Munduruku a health agent from the Praia do Índio village In Miritituba, Cargill has a shipping capacity of 24,000 tonnes/day It would be able to move up to 4 million tonnes per year – but documents obtained by Repórter Brasil under the Access to Information Law show that there is idle capacity around 2.5 million tonnes of cargo were received and shipped Sources interviewed by Repórter Brasil fear that the adverse impacts will intensify if a project to build a railway parallel to BR-163 – known as Ferrogrão – gets off the ground This is because the 900-km-plus enterprise is expected to increase the amount of grains transported through Miritituba The estimate is that up to 52 million tonnes of soybeans corn and other agricultural products will be moved per year Desenvolvido por Studio Cubo e Design por Paula Carvalho COPENHAGEN: Contamination of so-called forever chemicals in European waters often exceeds regulatory thresholds set to reduce potential risks to human health and the environment the EU´s environment agency warned on Tuesday Presenting an overview of the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) -- often called forever chemicals -- the European Environment Agency (EEA) said perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) “We have a problem with PFOS which is both persistent and widespread,” Nadia Cerioli depending on the sites for which data are available 11 to 35 percent of lakes and 47 to 100 percent of coastal waters exceeded environmental quality standards for PFOS according to the report Cerioli co-authored collated data on reported concentrations of PFOS which is classified as a “possible carcinogen” by the World Health Organisation the data collected by the EEA does not offer a complete overview because not all of its member states -- which include several non-EU countries -- report them 100 percent of reported water bodies had levels exceeding quality standards Croatia and Estonia) reported levels exceeding the threshold in less than 20 percent of sites A general view of a signage outside New Scotland Yard the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police —AFP/File ATHENS: Devout regulars attending Athens´s main Roman Catholic.. — Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority/FileAMMAN: Jordanian..  People gather to attend the Lady Gaga's open concert Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during an event in Texcoco Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks on May 4 Copyright © 2025. The News International, All Rights Reserved | Contact Us | Authors AT A HUGE COST: A worker melts gold at a shop in Itaituba INDEX POINTS UP: Gold is weighed at a shop in Itaituba RIO DE JANEIRO - Alessandro Souza is a gold hunter He chases it deep into protected Indigenous lands in the Amazon rainforest and doesn't emerge until his pockets are full "Today's market quote," Souza messaged his WhatsApp group one recent day: Gold was going for nearly $1,800 an ounce The novel coronavirus has devastated Brazil infecting nearly 4 million people and killing more than 122,000 It's also fueling the largest gold rush in the Amazon in years - with the potential for long-lasting consequences to the rainforest surging unemployment and lax enforcement by a distracted government people are traveling from all over the country to hundreds of illegal mining sites poisoning rivers with mercury and laundering illegal gold through mineral shops Much of the activity is concentrated in the vast and underpoliced state of Pará where Souza lives in the remote mining hub of Itaituba and where gold exports have risen sharply this year As Brazil shifted its attention to the pandemic rising to $245 million during the first six months of this year Deforestation associated with mining on Indigenous lands federal inspectors and even gold miners say the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro has neglected its responsibility as steward of the Amazon At a time when scientists say the forest is being dangerously destabilized by deforestation Bolsonaro has pushed to scale back enforcement and legalize mining on Indigenous land has deputized the military to crack down on environmental destruction The government's chief environmental enforcement agency unfilled vacancies and Bolsonaro's criticism It has scaled back the destruction of mining equipment found at illegal gold digs - a tactic advocates say is a key deterrent - and reduced operations to curb criminality in the Amazon "This moment is different," said Sérgio Leitão the executive director of the Choices Institute an environmental organization tracking gold mining during the pandemic the amount of manual labor that will work for almost nothing and a government that is supporting the legalization of more gold mining Bolsonaro's office declined requests for comment Environment Minister Ricardo Salles initially agreed to be interviewed by The Washington Post The Defense Ministry defended the government's response "The country is unjustly accused of not taking care of the region," the ministry said in a statement It cited its recent enforcement operations and stressed the complexities in patrolling a forest "of continental proportions." He has scoured for gold all over the Amazon has left him without a choice: "We don't have other options." So he does his best to avoid getting caught This next dig would be so deep into Indigenous forest - six days by canoe and foot - that he didn't expect to run into anyone else Illegal gold mining accounts for only a small fraction of deforestation in the Amazon - far less than agricultural practices - but its effect is more insidious Mercury is an essential tool in the process used to collect and purify gold traces found in the soil "It ends up killing nature," said Marilene Nascimento a cook at illegal gold mining sites outside of Itaituba Nascimento has grown ambivalent about her work She can't forget the environmental devastation she has seen and last year she swore she wouldn't go back asking if she wanted to make some good money Nascimento would get 30 grams of gold for one month of working as a mining cook She did a quick calculation using that day's gold prices And 10 times more than she could earn in the city "It's hard to see nature being destroyed," Nascimento said The forest has long been a safety net for Brazilians as many as 100,000 people descended on the mine known as Serra Pelada Another wave followed during the global financial crisis in 2009 The gold miner became a Brazilian archetype: He wandered into the forest with little more than a hammock and hope the enterprise has been industrialized and professionalized Well-financed networks equip miners with expensive heavy construction equipment like bulldozers and construction trucks has promised to expand mining even further He has welcomed them into meetings and criticized Ibama for destroying their equipment Last year the agency burned only 72 heavy mining machines - around a third of the number destroyed in 2015 Officials who oversaw one operation were fired who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal said Bolsonaro's rhetoric and policies have emboldened gold miners and made their own work all but impossible "We're getting so much political pressure," one of the officials said "It's practically impossible to head out into the field a mining town of 100,000 residents deep in the Amazon where gold is so omnipresent that it's used as currency Businesses along Rua do Ouro - "Gold Street" - buy illegally mined gold recently erected a monument to gold mining Local journalists don't even pretend to be objective "More than 70 percent of the mining is illegal," said Mauro Torres Miners congregate by the thousands on publicly accessible WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages and prostitutes and their fealty to the president I'm more proud of my vote," reads a typical tribute Many miners see Bolsonaro as their champion He has defended them from environmentalists pressure from foreign leaders and the government itself Brazilian authorities encouraged mining in the forest The right to mine is enshrined in the constitution But then the government made registration so arduous that honest workers were made into environmental criminals they finally have a president who sees it as they do And that has never been so clear as during the pandemic when it has buffered them from the economic fallout "There's no poverty in Itaituba," said José Antunes a prominent local lawyer who represents miners who traveled 1,000 miles from Lago das Pedras or watch his four children go hungry in Brazil's poorest state Now he says he could make thousands of dollars per month He doesn't worry much - not about environmental damage "Indigenous land is where you get the good gold," dos Santos said He hated being away from his children and wife for months "If I stayed in the city to try to find work I wouldn't be able to put my kids through school," he said He wished he could tell his family how long he'd be away "The miner knows that he is leaving," Souza said Saturday’s Mad Collab Block Party in Hagåtña brought together more than 70 local businesses and artists in celebration with hundreds of attendees It was all about the wonders of Artificial Intelligence in the palm of your hand All of the latest features in Samsung's Galaxy AI were showcased at a GTA-sponsored event Thursday University of Guam students and alumni presented original research at the 19th annual International Conference on Business Economics & Information Technology (ICBEIT) hosted by the University of Guam School of Business and Public Administration in Mactan Newtown Poll results are published every Monday in The Guam Daily Post Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: The medals were billed as the most sustainable ever produced To match the festive spirit of South America’s first Olympics the host country for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro boasted that the medals hung around the necks of athletes on the winners’ podium were also a victory for the environment: The gold was produced free of mercury and the silver recycled from thrown-away X-ray plates and mirrors the refiner that provided the gold for the medals is processing gold ultimately purchased by hundreds of well-known publicly traded American companies – among them Microsoft and Amazon – that are legally required to responsibly source metals in an industry long plagued by environmental and labour concerns But a comprehensive review of public records by The Associated Press found that the Sao Paulo-based company processes gold for an intermediary accused by Brazilian prosecutors of buying gold mined illegally on Indigenous lands and other areas deep in the Amazon rainforest The AP previously reported in this series that the scale of prospecting for gold on indigenous lands has exploded in recent years and involves carving illegal landing strips in the forest for unauthorised airplanes to ferry in heavy equipment and backhoes to tear at the earth in search of the precious metal Weak government oversight enabled by President Jair Bolsonaro has only exacerbated the problem of illegal gold mining in protected areas Critics also fault an international certification programme used by manufacturers to show they aren’t using minerals that come from conflict zones “There is no real traceability as long as the industry relies on self-regulation,” said Mark Pieth a professor of criminal law at the University of Basel in Switzerland and author of the 2018 book Gold Laundering “People know where the gold comes from but they don’t bother to go very far back into the supply chain because they know they will come into contact with all kinds of criminal activity.” Much like brown and black tributaries that feed the Amazon River gold illegally mined in the rainforest mixes into the supply chain and melds with clean gold to become almost indistinguishable Nuggets are spirited out of the jungle in prospectors’ dusty pockets to the nearest city where they are sold to financial brokers All that is required to transform the raw ore into a tradable asset regulated by the central bank is a handwritten document attesting to the specific point in the rainforest where the gold was extracted At many of those brokers’ Amazon outposts — the financial system’s front door — the gold becomes the property of Dirceu Frederico Sobrinho Dirceu has embodied the up-by-your-bootstraps myth of the Brazilian garimpeiro The son of a vegetable grocer who sold his produce near an infamous open-pit mine so packed with prospectors – among them Bolsonaro’s father – they looked like swarming ants he caught the gold bug in the mid-1980s and began dispatching planeloads of raw ore from a remote Amazon town one year after the nation rolled out a permitting regime to regulate prospecting from a high rise on Sao Paulo’s busiest avenue he is a major player in Brazil’s gold rush with 173 prospecting areas either registered to his name or with pending requests according to Brazil’s mining regulator’s registry In the same building is the headquarters of the nation’s gold association But even with gold jewellery dangling from his fingers and wrist Dirceu still proudly boasts his everyman garimpeiro roots “You don’t motivate someone to go into the forest if they’re not chasing after a dream,” he said in a rare interview from his corner office studded with a giant jade eagle “Whoever deals in gold has that: They dream “We have a saying among the garimpeiros: ‘I’m a pawn but I’m a pawn for gold,’” he adds At the centre of Dirceu’s empire is F.D’Gold Brazil’s largest buyer of gold from prospecting sites with purchases last year totalling more than 2 billion reais (US$361 million) from 252 wildcat sites according to data from the mining regulator Only two international firms that run industrial-sized gold mines paid more in royalties in 2021 a sign of how once-artisanal prospecting has become big business in Brazil – at least for some federal prosecutors filed a civil suit against F.D’Gold and two other brokers seeking the immediate suspension of all activities and payment of 10 billion reais (US$1.8 billion) in social and environmental damages The complaint alleges that the companies failed to take actions that would have prevented the illegal extraction of a combined 4.3 metric tons from protected areas and indigenous territories Dirceu said his company complies with all laws and has implemented extra controls but he acknowledged that determining the exact origin of the gold it obtains is “impossible” at present He has proposed an industry-wide digital registry to improve transparency The ongoing suit is the result of a study published in July by the Federal University of Minas Gerais which found that as much as 28 per cent of Brazil’s gold produced in 2019 and 2020 was potentially mined illegally researchers combed through 17,400 government-registered transactions by F.D’Gold and other buyers to pinpoint the location where the gold was purportedly mined the given location wasn’t an authorised site or when cross-checked with satellite images showed none of the hallmarks of mining activity – deforestation stagnant ponds of waste – meaning that the gold originated elsewhere Dirceu’s name and those of F.D’Gold and his mining company have popped up repeatedly over the years in numerous criminal investigations federal prosecutors in Amazon’s Amapa state accused his company of knowingly purchasing illegal gold from a national park that was later transformed into gold bars The charges were dismissed in 2017 after a federal judge in Brasilia ruled that F.D’Gold made the purchases legally Separate money-laundering charges against Dirceu were also dismissed all the raw ore purchased by F.D’Gold ends up at Marsam F.D’Gold accounts for more than one-third of the gold Marsam processes After almost two years as a partner in the Sao Paulo-based refiner It was part of an effort to put different family members in charge of their own businesses “As much as it’s the same family it’s important that each monkey has its own branch,” he said But the federal tax authority’s corporate registry shows that Dirceu and Westphal remain partners in a machine rental and air cargo venture based in the Amazonian city of Itaituba And Westphal could be seen working on a computer at F.D’Gold’s office on the day the AP interviewed Dirceu More than 300 publicly traded companies list Marsam as a refiner in responsible mining disclosures they are required to file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission The refiner has been virtually the only supplier to Brazil’s mint over the past decade according to data provided to the AP through a freedom-of-information request Because they’re accepted all over the world,” said Nunes who is also a member of Marsam’s six-person compliance committee Enabling such robust sales around the world is a seal of approval from the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) run by a Virginia-based coalition of manufacturers emerged with the passage a decade ago of legislation in the US requiring companies to disclose their use of conflict minerals fuelling civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo its standards were supplemented by tougher guidelines developed by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Marsam is one of just two refiners in Brazil certified as compliant with RMI’s standards for responsible sourcing of gold having successfully completed two independent audits The last one was performed in 2018 by UL Responsible Sourcing But its ties to Dirceu’s family and its strategic positioning at the pinch point between the Amazon rainforest and global commerce raises questions about its previously unexamined role in the processing and sale of gold allegedly sourced from off-limit areas Marsam hasn’t been accused by prosecutors of any wrongdoing and insists that it only refines gold on behalf of third-party exporters and domestic vendors The company in 2016 introduced a supply-chain policy requiring it to seek out information from suppliers whenever they are publicly linked to illicit activities They are also expected to analyse a mandatory declaration-of-origin form submitted by each client No such risks were identified in the most recent RMI report and Marsam was moved to a lower-risk category requiring an audit once every three years Critics say one problem is that the OECD’s guidelines that RMI measures companies against pay scant attention to environmental crimes or the rights of Indigenous communities they are geared toward risks stemming from civil wars and criminal networks and Venezuela – where drug cartels or guerrilla insurgencies are active – are classified as conflict-affected and high-risk areas deserving greater scrutiny for sourcing practices But the influx of illegal miners into Indigenous territories has been on the rise in recent years in Brazil – sometimes ending in bloodshed hundreds of prospectors raided a Munduruku village including one that belonged to a prominent anti-mining activist The attack followed clashes farther north in Roraima state where miners in motorboats and carrying automatic weapons repeatedly threatened a riverside Yanomami settlement drowned when a shooting sent people scattering into the woods In their suits against F.D’Gold and the two other brokers prosecutors blame expanding mining activity for the illegal clearing in 2019 and 2020 of some 5,000 hectares of once-pristine rainforest located on Indigenous territories as well as exacerbating “internal rifts that may be irreconcilable” Experts say these kinds of activities barely register in corporate boardrooms where sourcing decisions are made and given the seal of approval by international certification programmes “Certification connotes a degree of certitude that isn’t at all possible in the gold industry especially in Brazil,” said David Soud which recently prepared a report for the OECD on illegal gold flows from neighbouring Venezuela “The result is a lot of blind spots that can easily be exploited by bad actors.” Some of those blind spots are created by Brazil’s own weak oversight securities brokers like F.D’Gold can’t be held responsible if the prospector whose ore they buy lies about its provenance Nor is there any effective way to track the information provided at the point of sale It is a system that inhibits tracking and accountability at best enables wilful ignorance as a means to launder illegal gold according to wildcat mining experts including Larissa Rodrigues of the environmental think tank Choices Institute experts say there need to be electronic invoices feeding a database that allows information to be verified “The supply chain is absorbing gold that doesn’t come from that chain We know this happens,” said Rodrigues “It’s a fact that fraud exists but you can’t prosecute because you can’t prove it.” Dirceu didn’t deny the possibility that F.D’Gold has unwittingly bought dirty gold as an entity regulated by Brazil’s powerful central bank follows the law and goes beyond what is required – such as hiring in 2020 two companies to monitor through satellite imagery the sources of its gold “The moment we had knowledge this could be happening As president of the nation’s gold association he claims to have been pushing since at least 2017 a plan to create a digital profile of every participant in the supply chain complete with the garimpeiro’s photo “Digitalisation and automation is the start of traceability,” he said the more security there will be for our activities.” Yet for all the apparent industry goodwill and the support of Brazil’s tax authority the proposal remains just that – an idea that hasn’t even been taken up by Congress the central bank hasn’t revoked authorisation for any company that purchases gold Marsam says it uses its “best efforts” to identify the origin of the metals it refines That includes requiring clients to sign affidavits attesting to the metal’s legality and conducting client visits to verify that they have systems in place to prevent fraud But it doesn’t visit the mines themselves – something that RMI requires of refiners operating only in high-risk jurisdictions “We have to be diligent but not do work that isn’t ours,” Nunes said Asked when was the last time Marsam suspended a client it suspects of trading in dirty gold “I don’t remember it ever happening,” Nunes said before finally harkening back to one instance more than a decade ago RMI wouldn’t discuss prosecutors’ allegations against F.D’Gold citing confidentiality agreements to encourage refiners to participate in its grievance process it said that it takes all allegations “very seriously” and works with companies to address concerns refiners are expected to trace activities all the way back to the mine whenever red flags are detected If they don’t then address the concerns they will be removed from the conformant list A 2018 report by the OECD found that while RMI’s standards are aligned with its guidelines there are significant gaps in the way RMI and other industry initiatives carry out audits relying more on a refiner’s policies and procedures than its due-diligence efforts RMI-approved auditors also demonstrated a lack of basic technical skills and familiarity with the OECD guidelines “There was also an observed absence of curiosity and critical analysis,” according to the report RMI said it has since strengthened implementation efforts and is awaiting the outcome of a new assessment being conducted for the European Union a London-based consulting firm that advises the OECD found that only 5 per cent of 314 end-user companies then registered with RMI had policies on sourcing conflict materials that were in line with the OECD guidelines “End-user companies set the tone for what happens in their supply chains,” said Andrew Britton which is conducting a new assessment of certifiers now for the European Commission “It’s really important that companies’ due diligence on their supply chains really probes into potential risks and is not simply a box-ticking exercise.” and prospectors is hardly new in the Amazon never before has Brazil had a president as outspokenly favourable to such interests Bolsonaro campaigned for the nation’s top job with promises of unearthing the Amazon’s vast mineral wealth and his support for prospectors has encouraged a modern-day gold rush Bolsonaro’s father prospected for gold at Serra Pelada and the president sometimes draws on his upbringing to rally support from prospectors he aired videos in the Amazon region in which he boasted of sometimes pulling over at jungle stream and pulling a pan from a car to try his luck “Interest in the Amazon isn’t about the Indians or the damn trees It’s the ore,” he told a group of prospectors at the presidential palace in 2019 vowing to deploy the armed forces to allow their operations to continue unfettered he attacked environmentalists for trying to criminalise prospecting “It’s really cool how people in suits and ties guess about everything that happens in the countryside,” he said sarcastically Bolsonaro’s administration recently introduced legislation that would open up Indigenous territories to mining — something federal prosecutors have called unconstitutional and activists warn would wreak vast social and environmental damages Dirceu said he opposes allowing mining of Indigenous lands unless local people support the activity and are given first priority to pursue it themselves But even as he fashions himself a reformer from the inside he’s also benefited from the current free-for-all he doesn’t even consider prospectors working without a permit to be illegal — just irregular Given persistent efforts to deregulate gold extraction calls by Dirceu and the gold association to increase accountability over the gold supply chain “ring hollow,” said Robert Muggah who oversees an initiative on environmental crime in the Amazon at think tank Igarape Institute F.D’Gold received approval to begin exporting directly Dirceu said the company is currently seeking clients abroad and hopes to begin shipments soon someone will have a hand in the entirety of Brazil’s gold supply chain: from the Amazon where the gold is mined to the planes that bring the ore to his daughter’s refinery in Sao Paulo “It’s really important to understand that the nature of gold extraction in countries like Brazil is linked View the discussion thread. Porto em Miritituba - Vitor Shimomura/Brasil de Fato Located on the side of the BR-163 highway in the Brazilian northern state of Pará is a strategic point on the soybean route from Mato Grosso to the foreign market Thousands of trucks arrive there every day to unload goods at Cargo Transshipment Stations (ECTs silos and ports installed on the banks of the Tapajós River They can handle up to 18 million tons of grain a year A consequence of soy transportation is that the district's residents are left to deal with the damage and then you see structures being erected,” says Ivaneide Lima about the arrival of ports that serve agribusiness companies Miritituba was born in the 1970s as an agro-village where residents were dedicated to family farming There are no soybean plantations in the region but the impacts caused by grain logistics are part of everyday life and can be seen in the water you used to see 20 or 30 botos [Amazon River dolphins] try to find at least one…” says real estate agent Josenaldo de Castro The 15,000 or so residents are forced to live with the intense flow of trucks the noise of the vessels and changes in the environment ranging from the loss of vegetation to clouds of smoke raised by the trucks All this is accompanied by a disorderly population increase without the district having the necessary structure to absorb the impacts a village of residents – because it used to be a village in Miritituba – becomes an industrial district to accommodate all this flux,” says Lima According to the Association of Port Terminals and Cargo Transshipment Stations of the Amazon Basin (Amport the main ports on the Tapajós River are those in Santarém the result of the merger between the two agribusiness giants Bunge and Amaggi; Companhia Norte de Navegação e Portos (Cianport) in Portuguese; Cargill and Hidrovias do Brasil S.A Around 1,800 trucks leave Sinop (in the state of Mato Grosso) every day for the ports on the Tapajós River The port complex installed on the Tapajós waterway is part of Arco Norte a logistics corridor that integrates ports and transhipment stations in the states of Amapá “You can see that Miritituba is covered by a cloud of dust produced by these trucks And this directly affects people's health with health problems because of the dust,” says real estate agent Josenaldo de Castro.  Unitapajós and Hidrovias do Brasil handled around 8 million tons of grain with the beginning of operations of the Cargill ETC there was no significant change in handling grain handling by the four permanent ETCs in Miritituba reached 12.9 million tons Locals agree that the arrival of companies boosted the number of jobs in Mititituba there were so many workers inside the community that rent prices soared,” Lima says The population increase is one of the impacts pointed out in a public civil action filed in 2026 by the Pará Public Prosecutor's Office which highlights that the installation of large projects brings “different kinds of consequences population growth and an increase in the urban limits of the municipalities." the rampant growth is related to a surge in violence “It was a community that nearly had no violence cases But today that’s impossible to hide,” Lima explains In the 2024 Brazilian Public Security Yearbook Itaituba is fourth among the highest rates of rape among the underaged in the country the town was 15th on the list of the 50 most violent cities in Brazil In a region in Miritituba where there is a lake formed by the Tapajós River the Jardim do Éden neighborhood looks like a place where one can rest hammocks on balconies and mango trees in the backyards A boat leans against the trunk of a small tree near the lake handwritten signs say: açaí for sale.  But all it takes is for the lake to fill up with the arrival of winter – the rainy season in the Amazon region – and the peace is interrupted by the ferries that dock near the houses day and night,” complains one resident locals have to cope with an oily smell that as if you poured gasoline on the house.” the BR-163 highway meets the BR-230 highway at a junction that attracts roadside restaurants and gas stations where trucks that transport goods along the route are fueled with diesel the district is also part of a fuel transportation route there is an oil loading and unloading base for the gas stations in the region you'd see how big the oil stains are [on the water] There are no fish left,” she laments “There was a time when fish were floating That's the reality in Brazil,” he says.  Deforestation increases and may worsen with the Ferrogrão railroad Itaituba is the Brazilian town with the largest mining area and lives off economic cycles based on exploiting natural resources Environmental degradation led the town to be included in 2017 on the list of the most deforested areas in the Amazon a monitoring mechanism of the Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (PPCDAm in Portuguese) of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.  deforestation in Itaituba continues to grow According to data from the Project for Monitoring Deforestation in the Legal Amazon by Satellite (Prodes Itaituba's deforestation rate between August 2023 and July 2024 was 25% higher than that recorded in the previous period.   it's about 360 kilometers taking the BR 163 highway the megastructures involved in soy logistics leave their mark: visible scars in the forest “blank spaces” open to receiving thousands of trucks.  run by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe the annual rate of deforestation in the municipalities along the Pará stretch of the BR 163 highway increased by 79% These figures are even more impressive when it comes to municipalities known for being major soy producers in the Planalto Santareno region made up of the municipalities of Santarém the annual rate of deforestation increased by 172% it jumped from 70 hectares in 2013 to 1,600 hectares in 2021 where the annual rate of deforestation rose from 400 hectares in 2013 to 6,100 hectares in 2021 In the context of the soy expansion in the region megastructures seem to advance without limits A survey by the organization Terra de Direitos identified 41 port facilities linked to agribusiness activities that operate in the transport of grains under construction or in operation in the municipalities of Santarém “We found 27 ports currently being used Only five have complete documentation of the environmental licensing process,” says Bruna Balbi Terra de Direitos' popular legal advisor The ports limit access to places that once belonged to the whole community The barges stand in the way of the canoes and paddleboats locals use To complete the agribusiness megastructures in western Pará there is a proposal to build the EF 170 railroad “They're not happy with the highway It's 933 kilometers of tearing up the forest,” warns priest and social activist Ediberto Sena the railroad was included in the Logistics Investment Program (PIL “These companies then formed a Special Purpose Entity the business structuring company Estação da Luz Participações and presented the Expression of Interest Proposal for the construction of the railroad section,” the research reads.  Currently being analyzed by the Federal Audit Court (TCU Ferrogrão will affect at least six Indigenous lands A survey carried out by 40 civil society organizations indicates that the installation of the railroad could deforest 2,000 square kilometers of native forest an area equivalent to the state of São Paulo which unfortunately will leave us in the lurch,” says Sena *This article was produced in partnership with the INESC (Institute for Socio-Economic Studies) All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced provided it is not altered and proper credit is given All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced provided it is not altered and proper credit is given.