Tri Calcium Phosphate Market Analysis: Industry Market Size Copyright © ChemAnalyst - 2020 | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy Equinox Resources (ASX:EQN) says the discovery of titanium at its Mata da Corda Rare Earth Project in Brazil could serve as a valuable byproduct.  The explorer undertook surface clay and channel clay sampling which returned grades of up to 3,274 parts per million total rare earth oxides (TREO) and up to 18.9% titanium dioxide.  Managing Director Zac Komur says the significant anomalies of titanium position Equinox to add a valuable secondary product to the company’s rare earth clay basket.     “The results have identified drill targets across three prospects,” he says.  “As we navigate through the necessary environmental approvals and land access requirements we are preparing to commence drilling in early Q3 CY2024.” Titanium’s high strength and light weight when combined with iron aluminium and molybdenum make it ideal for use in aerospace Around 90% of demand though is for titanium dioxide pigment Titanium has been declared a critical mineral by the Australian Government and European Union Grand View Research estimates that the global titanium dioxide market value which was worth US$18.82 billion ($28.25 billion) in 2022 will grow at a compound annual rate of 6.3% between now and 2030.  Estimated global demand for titanium is around 7.5 million tonnes per annum.  Equinox says the high grades of TREO and titanium oxide in the samples which were collected along road cuts and within private rural properties confirm the “significant potential” of the Patos de Minas The company is now planning to start maiden drilling in July.   Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au  Unico Silver makes ‘multiple new discoveries’ at Cerro Leon Unico Silver (ASX:USL) says the final results from phase-two diamond drilling at.. Dateline Resources pursues OTCQB listing in US North Bay advances gold production optimisation  Gilded market: Has jewellery demand lost lustre? ASX ends winning streak as energy sector... Critica readies to drill satellite rare earths... Metro on track to hit 2025 bauxite... ASX shifts down a gear Stay Informed on up-to-the-minute mining news Get the best articles straight to your inbox ASX ends winning streak as energy sector tumbles05 May, 2025 Military Metals discusses antimony exploration in Slovakia05 May, 2025 Unico Silver makes ‘multiple new discoveries’ at Cerro Leon05 May, 2025 Critica readies to drill satellite rare earths targets    05 May, 2025 Two people died and 4 are missing after a landslide caused a house to collapse in Santa Maria de Itabira Other landslides and flooding also caused severe damage in the city State Governor Romeu Zema visited affected areas of the city on 21 February to closely monitor the assistance actions of the Fire Service and the State Civil Defence in the municipality Flooding and landslides affected other areas of the state including in the municipalities of Caparaó where authorities are distributing relief supplies to affect communities Minas Gerais Civil Defence reported rain-related fatalities in Divino (1) and Durandé (1) The city of Diamantina saw 138.6 mm of rain in 24 hours on 18 February The following day Patos de Minas saw 105.8mm and Caparaó 91.4 mm Parts of the state saw very heavy rainfall in mid-January with severe flooding reported in the capital Authorities warned of further landslides and possible flooding as more rain falls on saturated ground Santa Maria de Itabira fica alagada depois de fortes chuvas neste fim de semana Vídeo: Corpo de Bombeiros Militar de Minas Gerais pic.twitter.com/S6Z95rhLWT — Estado de Minas (@em_com) February 21, 2021 Chuva provoca deslizamentos em Santa Maria de Itabira Vídeo: Corpo de Bombeiros Militar de Minas Gerais pic.twitter.com/5FIl5K07qZ — Estado de Minas (@em_com) February 21, 2021 Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page O endereço abaixo não existe na globo.com Metrics details Chagas disease (CD) continues to be a major public health burden in Latina America Information on the interplay between COVID-19 and CD is lacking Our aim was to assess clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of patients with CD and COVID-19 Consecutive patients with confirmed COVID-19 were included from March to September 2020 diabetes mellitus and hospital was performed in a 4:1 ratio Of the 7018 patients who had confirmed COVID-19 31 patients with CD and 124 matched controls were included (median age 72 (64–80) years-old 5.6%) were more frequent in CD patients than in the controls (p < 0.05) C-reactive protein levels were lower in CD patients compared with the controls (55.5 [35.7 outcomes and complications were similar between the groups CD patients had a higher prevalence of atrial fibrillation and chronic heart failure compared with non-CD controls The lower C-reactive protein levels in CD patients require further investigation Those patients could have increased levels of ACE2 because of the chronic use of ACE inhibitors and/or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) Limited information is available regarding the characteristics and outcomes of patients with CD and COVID-19 as well as in-hospital outcomes of CD and COVID-19 coinfected patients included in the Brazilian COVID-19 Registry All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations patients with previous history of CD recorded in the database were selected CD diagnosis were retrieved by their own hospital record or self-referred by the patient Patients were admitted from March 1 to September 30 At the moment of the analysis 7018 patients were introduced in the registry 31 of those were classified as suffering from CD This was an urgent public health research study in response to a Public Health Emergency of International Concern Patients or the public were not involved in the design interpretation or presentation of results of this research Sample size of 132 controls was calculated considering and expected risk ratio for mortality 2.5 in CD-group alfa-error probability of 5% for a 4:1 CD/control Categorical data were presented as absolute numbers and proportions and continuous variables were expressed as medians and interquartile ranges The χ2 and Fisher Exact test were used to compare the distribution of categorical variables and the Wilcoxon-Mann–Whitney test for continuous variables Results were considered statistically significant if the two-tailed p-value was < 0.05 All statistical analysis was performed with R software (version 4.0.2) The study was approved by the National Commission for Research Ethics (CAAE 30350820.5.1001.0008) Individual informed consent was waived by the National Commission for Research Ethics owing to the pandemic situation and the use of deidentified data IM and MCP) affirm that the manuscript is an honest and transparent account of the study being reported; that no important aspects of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as originally planned (and Flowchart of COVID-19 patients included in the study with average 382 beds (ranging from 60 to 936 beds) 7 (63.6%) were teaching hospitals and 8 (72.7%) were reference centers for COVID-19 treatment When comparing CD patients with controls (Table 1) there were no significant differences in demographic and medical characteristics except for the prevalence of chronic heart failure (8 [25.8%] vs 12 [9.7%]; p = 0.031) and atrial fibrillation (9 [29.0%] vs 7 [5.6%]; p < 0.001) Although the median number of comorbidities was higher in CD patients (3.0 [2.0 this difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.119) The median time since from symptom onset to hospital admission was 6 (8–4) days. Dyspnea and cough (dry or productive) were present in more than one half of patients. There were no differences in the clinical presentation between both groups (Table 2) Laboratory and imaging findings are presented in Supplementary Table S1 and S2 Median C-reactive protein was lower in CD patients than the controls (55.5 [35.7 There was no other clinically relevant difference in laboratory exams between groups diffuse interstitial infiltrate pattern and ground glass opacities were the most prevalent findings in the chest X-ray and chest computer tomography (CT) No significant differences were found in the frequency of abnormalities and radiological progression in both groups expect for the frequency of pleural effusion in the follow-up CT Among CD, patients 10 had an EKG performed. Of those, 4 patients had atrial fibrillation and 2 had a pacemaker rhythm, so the proportion of patients with sinus rhythm in controls were significantly higher than in CD patients (68.8% vs 40.0%, p = 0.142) (Table 3) There were no differences regarding the therapeutic strategy among both groups (Table 4) except for a trend of higher frequency of therapeutic anticoagulation in CD patients (19.3% vs Twenty-four CD patients (77.4%) and 103 controls (83.0%) received corticosteroids (p = 0.448) Dexamethasone was used by 64.5% CD patients and 66.1% controls (p > 0.999) Macrolides were prescribed for 77.4% in CD patients and 87.1% controls (p = 0.255); chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine in 3.2% and 4.8% (p > 0.999) During hospitalization, 72 (46.5%) of patients required admission to the intensive care unit, and among them 55 (35.4%) needed mechanical ventilation and 26 (16.8%) substitutive renal therapy. Overall, there were no differences in in terms of clinical evolution and outcomes (Table 5) We described a cohort of CD patients infected with SARS-COV-2 and admitted in hospitals belonging to a large Brazilian COVID-19 Registry project CD patients had similar clinical characteristics and outcomes to non-CD controls except from a higher prevalence of atrial fibrillation and chronic heart failure it was only a hypothesis and no previous study has tested it using patient data Despite the limited number of patients with CD (31) our study refuted did not confirm the hypothesis We did not find any significant difference or even a trend of worse clinical outcomes in CD patients even with a higher frequency of atrial fibrillation and heart failure in the CD group what could have been a factor for worse prognosis due to a higher frequency of associated heart failure and atrial fibrillation and the CD itself could be equilibrated by a controlled inflammatory response that merits consideration for future studies it may add to the knowledge of understating how to prevent the unregulated inflammatory response in COVID-19 It is also interesting to discuss the influence that the use of anticoagulants in full doses may have had on the outcomes of patients with CD and COVID-19 The higher prevalence of atrial fibrillation in those patients may had led to a higher frequency of use of therapeutic dosage anticoagulants (19.3% vs which did not reach statistical significance due to the sample size The best strategy to be used—prophylactic or therapeutic heparin doses—in patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 is not yet defined and it has been hypothesized that therapeutic anticoagulation (full dose heparin) is associated with decreased in-hospital mortality in patients with moderate COVID-19 a cytokine inhibitor (recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody with an antagonist effect on the IL-6 receptor) combined with another immunosuppressant agents have been suggested to be associated with the reactivation of latent infections no cases of CD reactivation have been published there is a concern that COVID-19 disease therapeutics could potentially trigger reactivation of CD This merits further investigation and until definitive evidence is published it should be a cause of concern in decision making when prescribing immunosuppressors in these patients subject to the drawbacks of a patient records review it is the largest series published to date laboratory and imaging tests were performed at the discretion of the treating physician Chagas disease diagnosis was based on medical records or by self-reporting in these cases no extra serology was performed Despite the limited representativity of radiologic tomographic and electrocardiographic analysis no patient performed echocardiogram during hospital admission Although coinfection by Trypanosoma cruzi and SARS-COV-2 may pose a risk of complications and therefore a worse prognosis in our series we did not find significant differences in terms of clinical presentation and outcomes of patients with CD compared to controls despite a higher frequency of chronic heart failure and atrial fibrillation at baseline We observed lower C-reactive protein levels in CD when compared to controls Data are available upon reasonable request Guan, W.-J. et al. 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Hyg. 103, 1590–1592. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0699 (2020) Download references We would like to thank the hospitals which are part of this collaboration we thank the hospitals: Hospital Bruno Born; Hospital das Clínicas da UFMG; Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre; Hospital Eduardo de Menezes; Hospital João XXIII; Hospital Julia Kubitschek; Hospital Metropolitano Dr Célio de Castro; Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição; Hospital Regional Antônio Dias; Hospital Risoleta Tolentino Neves; Hospital Unimed-BH We also thank all the clinical staff at those hospitals and all undergraduate students who helped with data collection This study was supported in part by Minas Gerais State Agency for Research and Development (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais—FAPEMIG) [Grant Number APQ-00208-20] National Institute of Science and Technology for Health Technology Assessment (Instituto de Avaliação de Tecnologias em Saúde—IATS)/National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq) [Grant Number 465518/2014-1] and CAPES Foundation (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) [Grant Number 88887.507149/2020-00] These authors contributed equally: Israel Molina and Milena Soriano Marcolino Avenida Professor Alfredo Balena 190 Sala 246 Milena Soriano Marcolino & Antonio Luiz Pinho Ribeiro Institute for Health Technology Assessment (IATS/ CNPq) Antonio Luiz Pinho Ribeiro & Carísi Anne Polanczyk Lucas Emanuel Ferreira Ramos & Rafael Tavares Silva Máderson Alvares de Souza Cabral & Maria do Carmo Pereira Nunes Aline Gabrielle Sousa Nunes & Guilherme Fagundes Nascimento Hospital Metropolitano Doutor Célio de Castro Angélica Aparecida Coelho Madureira & Pedro Ledic Assaf Ana Luiza Bahia Alves Scotton & Luisa Elem Almeida Santos Bárbara Lopes Farace & Henrique Cerqueira Guimarães Cíntia Alcantara de Carvalho & Joice Coutinho de Alvarenga Maria Angélica Pires Ferreira & Carísi Anne Polanczyk Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição and Hospital Cristo Redentor Luciane Kopittke & Veridiana Baldon dos Santos Sofia Jarjour Tavares Starling Lopes & Victor Eliel Bastos de Carvalho Universidade do Vale do Taquari (UNIVATES) Liege Barella Zandoná & Luís César de Castro Luís César de Castro & Yuri Carlotto Ramires Center for Research and Graduate Studies in Business Administration Neimy Ramos de Oliveira & Tatiani Oliveira Fereguetti Pontífica Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais Medical School of Fundação Educacional do Município de Assis Faculdade de Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais Ana Lara Rodrigues Monteiro de Barros & Angélica Aparecida Coelho Madureira Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work: M.S.M. Substantial contributions to the acquisition or interpretation of data for the work: I.M. Revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content: all authors Final approval of the version to be published: all authors Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved: M.S.M The authors declare no competing interests Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-96825-3 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras (AD, São Paulo Viracopos) has announced it will terminate its operations at Belo Horizonte Pampulha with effect from April 4 the LCC cited Brazil's "challenging economic environment" for the decision to withdraw For the meantime, Azul connects the eastern Brazilian city' smaller airport with São Paulo Viracopos, Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont and Vitória Goiabeiras using ATR72-600 equipment Azul will continue to serve Belo Horizonte Tancredo Neves from where it operates approximately 90 daily departures Get started with a ch-aviation subscription unrestricted access to all of ch-aviation's news and data for 14 days Upgrade to our Data and News Subscriptions Aviation Intelligence for your everyday use We offer a comprehensive aviation industry database utilised by various entities such as operators we present our projects and business activities in each country and region to show how they contribute to local communities and the world as a whole View More Enriching+ is Sumitomo Corporation's official owned media bringing you the real thoughts of employees and the stories behind the projects Sumitomo Corporation (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku President and Chief Executive Officer: Masayuki Hyodo) has reached an agreement with shareholders of Nativa Agronegócios & Representações LTDA an agricultural supplies distributor in southeastern Brazil to acquire all shares of Nativa to make it a wholly owned subsidiary The acquisition is through Agro Amazonia Produtos Agropecuários S.A. a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation and is scheduled to be completed by the end of the 2022 fiscal year once necessary approvals from relevant authorities are obtained With population growth and rising income levels global food demand is expected to increase approximately 1.7 times from 2010 levels by 2050 Amidst the demand for increased food production an expansion in farmland is vital to increase unit yield as is the demand for agricultural materials Brazil boasts the world's fifth largest export value of agricultural products Brazil is likely to become even more important as a food production area as it leaves room for agricultural land expansion without deforestation Nativa is an agricultural supplies distributor with eight locations and a fertilizer manufacturing facility in the state of Minas Gerais the state of Minas Gerais is a region where coffee and vegetable cultivation and seed production are thriving especially among small and medium-sized farmers Nativa has built a strong customer base rooted in the community through the development and sale of unique products that meet customer needs and through support for farming by agronomists (sales staff with knowledge of agricultural production technology) Agro Amazonia has been in business since in 1983 and is one of the largest agricultural supplies distributor in the Midwest of Brazil operating 50 outlets in eight Brazilian states Sumitomo Corporation acquired full ownership of the company in 2018 and has since contributed to the expansion of Agro Amazonia's business by leveraging its financing Agro Amazonia contributes to the sustainable development of agriculture through the expansion of its product and service portfolio It has grown its customer base to approximately 20,000 households mainly consisting of livestock farmers and large-scale soybean and corn farmers with 1,000 to 10,000 hectares or more The company is emerging as an industry leader in Brazil with sales expanding more than five-fold since 2015 Sumitomo Corporation aims to expand the operation’s sales territory in Brazil and achieve further business growth by linking Agro Amazonia's extensive product portfolio based on its strong relationships with agrochemical suppliers with Nativa's fertilizer development and manufacturing capabilities and new customer segments In its medium-term management plan "SHIFT 2023, Sumitomo Corporation has positioned agriculture as one of its next-generation growth fields and "Agricultural Input & Service" as a steady business growth category Sumitomo Corporation started its agrochemical export business in the 1970s and currently operates an import and wholesale business in 37 countries overseas the company has expanded its value chain by acquiring agricultural supplies distributors since starting the fertilizer raw material import/export business in the 1950s Sumitomo has built an integrated business base from importing fertilizer raw materials to manufacturers and selling direct to farmers mainly in Japan and the Asia-Oceania region As part of its commitment to contribute to society Sumitomo will continue to support stable and sustainable food production and the development of local communities and industries around the world The company is intent on providing products and services that meet the agricultural needs of each country and region while utilizing its expertise in the agricultural materials field for business expansion Sumitomo Corporation Group positions “Six Material Issues to Achieve Sustainable Growth with Society” as an important factor in developing business strategies and in the decision-making process for individual businesses we will pursue sustainable growth by resolving these issues through our business activities This project especially contributes to the following material Issues A huge meteor crossed the skies of Minas Gerais, illuminated the May 20, 2020 dawn and was detected by two BRAMON cameras and by seven other cameras of climaaovivo.com.br The alert was given in the morning through social networks and Cristóvão Jacques who find out the meteor flash in SONEAR’s allsky camera in Oliveira reported that his station WMV1/MG had detected the very bright meteor at 06:36 UT Meteor flash in SONEAR allsky camera – Credits: SONEAR Preliminary analyzes carried out from the triangulation of the images indicate a trajectory that started 111 Km height over the municipality of Varginha going in the north direction at a speed of about 28.74 Km/s (103,500 Km/h ) until it fragmented at 22.3 km height north of the municipality of Formiga Preliminary da trajectory map – Credits: BRAMON The meteor was classified as sporadic (not associated with any known meteor shower) presenting a very inclined orbit (51.2 degrees related to the ecliptic plane) with 0.8 AU perihelion and a semimajor axis of 1.37 AU Preliminary meteoroid orbit – Credits: BRAMON Brazil (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As the coffee harvest drew to a close in the rolling hills of southeastern Brazil labor inspectors raced to two sprawling plantations with one goal - to rescue workers from slavery.The convoy hit the road one August morning in Minas Gerais - a state bigger than France - that grows more than half the beans in Brazil the world's top coffee exporter.The Thomson Reuters Foundation joined officials on a high-speed chase over fields searching for coffee bean pickers crouched amid countless rows of lush trees.The inspectors knew they had to act fast as supervisors running plantations were known to order workers to flee at the first sight of authorities using WhatsApp to issue warnings.By sunset they had raided both plantations and found 59 workers - including children aged 13 - all undocumented underpaid and lacking safety equipment as required by law."The workers had no rights whatsoever," said Marcelo Campos the labor inspector who coordinated the raids.The laborers knew they were being exploited but felt they had no choice in a country of rising poverty and scarce jobs."There is no other way," said one declining to be named in case it lost him work on another of the state's many thousands of plantations that are home to at least 245,000 workers."It's not worth it .. right?"SLAVE-BLIGHTEDA Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation over six months uncovered extensive slave labor running largely unchecked in Brazil's billion-dollar coffee industry despite years of efforts to clean up the sector - which could now put sales at risk.Exclusively obtained data and dozens of interviews revealed coffee produced by forced labor was stamped slavery-free by top certification schemes and sold at a premium to major brands such as Starbucks and Nespresso.Labor inspectors said they were hampered by a shortage of staff money and political will - and fear abuse is rising even though consumer demand for slave-free products is increasing.Prosecutor Mateus Biondi said he was alarmed by the number of investigations into labor violations in the main coffee growing area of Minas Gerais in recent years but that such efforts did not match up to the true scale of the problem."The numbers are scary," said Biondi regional anti-slavery coordinator for Minas Gerais referring to new data - revealed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation - showing an average of about 25 probes per year into coffee plantations since early 2014.Civil society groups unions and lawmakers voiced concern about the reputation of Brazil's coffee industry being damaged on the global stage if the failure to stop slavery continued."We started a dialogue with the coffee sector in 2016 would grab the world's attention," said Mercia Silva a leading anti-slavery charity."This is proving to be true now."The Thomson Reuters Foundation found via sources that the state's coffee plantations this year attracted the attention of U.S customs officials who can block imports of slave-tainted goods fuelling fears about trade with Brazil's biggest buyer.U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP) met this year with labor inspectors and prosecutors in Minas Gerais - thought by sources to be the first such meetings - to discuss the industry.CBP officials can block any goods they suspect were made by forced labor and have this year ramped up efforts by stopping several imports including tobacco from Malawi and gold from artisanal mines in Democratic Republic of Congo.Two Brazilian sources present at separate meetings with CBP officials voiced concern some coffee exports could be detained."We are not naïve we are aware it's a possibility," said one Brazilian source on condition of anonymity.Two U.S A CBP source said they could not discuss "potential or ongoing investigations"  "The government of Minas Gerais is aware of the concern of the United States .. and other importing countries regarding coffee and other products," a state government spokesman said.REPUTATIONAL RISKU.S Swiss-based Nespresso and Brazil's Nucoffee have all used coffee plantations found by labor officials to have exploited laborers in recent years.Asked about the findings the companies - two global heavyweights and a major Brazilian player - said they were committed to tackling slave labor and were working with producers to improve their labor practices and avoid slavery.The Rainforest Alliance a global non-profit that certifies farms as slave-free said it was considering changing its system to boost the number of unannounced audits and visit more farms.Minas Gerais' government - which runs a similar scheme - said it was monitoring cases filed by labor prosecutors against farms it had certified after the investigation found that three were suspected by officials of having violated labor laws.Brazil's Ministry of Economy said it started discussing ways to improve labor practices with coffee producers last year but lacked data on how many workers were victims of modern slavery.In Brazil slavery is defined as forced labor but also covers debt bondage and any work that violates human dignity.More than 300 coffee workers were found by officials in slave-like conditions nationwide in 2018 but the true extent of slavery in the sector is unknown.The economy ministry said in a statement that there were "no reliable statistics" on the number of workers in slavery-like conditions in any industry in Brazil when asked if the scale of labor abuses in the country's coffee sector was underestimated."We are a great global producer and the number of abuses identified is not proportional to our production," said federal judge Carlos Haddad who runs a legal aid scheme for victims of modern slavery in Minas Gerais.MISSING: MONEY BACKINGWorldwide coffee consumption is set to reach a record in 2020 and Brazil accounts for more than a third of global supply It exported about R$18 billion ($4.4 billion) of coffee in 2018 according to United Nations trade data.But lawmaker Helder Salomao a congress body that proposes laws and carries out investigations warned that Brazil stood to lose without action."Either we solve this problem while we lose business opportunities," Salomao said Brazil will have losses because of this."Statistics compiled by a labor prosecutor and handed to the Thomson Reuters Foundation showed that 121 farms were probed in Minas Gerais' southern and central-east region since April 2014.Labor violations were identified by officials in 10 farms certified by Rainforest or Certifica Minas raising questions about the effectiveness of labels that lead to higher prices."Certifiers know that there are big problems with non-compliance in certified supply chains," said Genevieve LeBaron a politics professor at Britain's Sheffield University who has studied labor conditions at certified tea plantations in India."Consumers believe that when they pay $2 more for certified coffee that money is being handed to workers when there is very little actual evidence that is the case."The scale of slave labor across Minas Gerais is likely to be significant and largely unchecked academics and activists said.The state has at least 119,000 coffee plantations and hundreds of thousands of workers but only 245 inspectors."There is a lack of resources technical support and personnel," said Adriano Santos a sociology professor at local university Unifal-MG who has studied the state's coffee sector.He said the true picture was one of "dramatic" worker abuse.UNDER THE RADARLabor officials in Minas Gerais and beyond are concerned as the overall number of workers rescued from slavery tumbles.Last year 1,154 laborers across all industries were rescued [L5N2277LU]Labor judges and inspectors told Congress in April that the main government body responsible for the fight against slavery and workplace infractions in Brazil was in a "calamitous" state.Facing a deep recession in 2017 Brazil's previous government cut funding for labor inspections by about half which led to a sharp drop in the number of workers rescued.Labor associations and anti-slavery groups said they were also wary of President Jair Bolsonaro who earlier this year said child labor was not harmful and complained that the legal definition of slave labor under Brazilian law was too broad.Against this backdrop Brazil's leading anti-slavery labor prosecutor said her office would next year hone their efforts on a couple of sectors - with coffee likely to be one of them."Given our financial limitations both we and labor inspectors need to act in a .. strategic way," said newly-appointed Lys Sobral Cardoso.For while mechanization has boosted productivity replacing man with machine may also have exacerbated worker exploitation.More than two-thirds of workers on coffee farms in Minas Gerais are estimated to be informal workers severance or state benefits."With mechanization the number of workers has fallen," said Jorge Ferreira dos Santos a director at the local chapter of Brazil's biggest trade union confederation known as CUT."But their situation is more precarious as they submit themselves to work in whatever conditions they can find."Undocumented work is deep-rooted and common in the coffee industry a lawyer for anti-slavery charity Conectas Human Rights."This makes it very hard to track who they (coffee bean pickers) are They have none of the rights guaranteed by .. Brazilian legislation," said Nunes."(But) some companies prefer to turn a blind eye to it."RAID AND RESCUEDozens of workers caught on one plantation in the August raid - Alvorada do Canta Galo farm - told labor inspectors that the owner had provided them with no safety gear we can't afford to buy (boots)," said 55-year-old Maria Helena Marques They give us nothing."More than 50 workers found at Canta Galo were judged by labor inspectors to be victims of slave labor he struck a deal with labor prosecutors - paying a fine to the state and compensation to the victims and vowing to improve conditions to avoid the risk of being prosecuted.Workers said they were paid R$14 ($3.43) for every 60 litres of beans they picked which for some could take a day of work.One woman earned R$ 672 ($164) for 43 days work - about R$2 (49 cents) an hour Inspectors found many other workers who were earning less than the legal minimum of R$998 per month.The rescued workers lived in Campos Altos - a nearby town that hosts hundreds of seasonal coffee workers from northeast Brazil - mostly in dirty sparse shacks without beds or fridges."We're paid too little," said Sales Felix who shared a room with his wife and two young daughters next to another room housing three men at the cost of about R$300 a month."We come from far away and we gain nothing.""DIRTY LIST"Industry certification schemes used to reassure customers that goods are slave-free and environmentally friendly have come under particular scrutiny in Minas Gerais as farms certified as clean have been punished for falling short of the standards.Many growers have been added to the government's "dirty list" of employers that have engaged in slavery seen as one of Brazil's sharpest anti-slavery tools as blacklisted firms cannot get credit from state banks or other public money.On the latest dirty list from August which said it sources beans from 4,000 farms and helps producers sell abroad.Nucoffee said Domingos had signed a deal with labor prosecutors promising to improve working conditions but it would "follow the case to evaluate appropriate measures".Coffee plantations found to have used slave labor risk official fines that can exceed R$1 million ($250,000) legal damages and court orders mandating improved labor conditions.Those that strike deals with officials - standard practice to avoid court proceedings - face sanctions if caught again."Nucoffee repudiates practices that go against fair work and has clear commitments regarding respect for rural workers," a spokesman said If Domingos were to be added to the "dirty list" Nucoffee said it would break all ties with the supplier.Domingos was also a supplier to Nespresso until March 2018 when the relationship ended after a company review of suppliers."We work with producers who are constantly seeking to improve their processes as well as those who are certified by Rainforest Alliance," said a spokesman for Nespresso without revealing why the relationship ended.Starbucks cut ties this year with a Rainforest-certified farm which was added to the "dirty list" in April after 25 workers were found by officials in slavery-like conditions."We have zero tolerance for any form of slave labor and have engaged (with) .. farms about this topic," a spokesman said   NO WAY OUTRainforest endorses hundreds of coffee plantations in Minas Gerais through a system of 'group certifications' despite auditing only a fraction of any collective's many farms.In 2017 a Rainforest-backed farm was judged by officials to have exploited workers who were forced to do illegal overtime.Rainforest said its group certification system was "strong and efficient" but was considering a change to ensure all farms were independently audited at least once every three years."We believe certification is an essential tool for solving .. labor challenges on the ground," Rainforest said in a statement."(But) a certification system alone is not enough to achieve the change we want to see on the ground and other stakeholders to play a significant role."Back in Campos Alto workers from Domingos' farm were pleased to receive up to R$15,000 compensation each from their former boss and three months of state unemployment benefits.One 36-year-old worker said by phone he had received R$7,500 and bought a small plot of land in Bahia after his rescue."It was good because we found out we had the right to something," he said we will build a house."Yet the prevailing attitude among the workers rescued in the August raids - most of whom asked to remain anonymous for fear of not finding more work in the future - was one of resignation."It's hard," said Joseilton de Jesus who planned to return to the region to pick coffee next year despite having been exploited as a slave "We have to go where the work is."Reporting by Fabio Teixeira Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation Visit <a href="http://news.trust.org">news.trust.org</a> 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 Gostaria de receber as principais notícias do Brasil e do mundo O jornal Folha de S.Paulo (1921 - 2025) é publicado pela Empresa Folha da Manhã S.A Madalena Gordiano was just eight years old when she knocked on Maria das Graças Milagres Rigueira’s door to beg for food in Minas Gerais But Gordiano was never adopted or allowed to go to school dusted and tidied for Maria das Graças Milagres Rigueira’s family she became a 21st-century slave for a wealthy family in an apartment building in Patos de Minas according to prosecutors investigating the case she was 46 and had great difficulty in expressing herself “I went to ask for bread because I was hungry but she told me she wouldn’t give me any if I didn’t come and live with her,” Gordiano told Fantástico the Brazilian TV show that broke the story ahead of Christmas while a news site called UOL revealed other alarming details of the story What Gordiano went through is an extreme example of the legacy of more than 300 years of slavery in Brazil. As one of the slave trade’s main destinations it was the last American country to free the labor force forcibly brought from Africa; the so-called Golden Law forbade slavery in all its forms in 1888 domestic work is still traditionally done by Black women The ostensibly respectable Milagres Rigueira family not only took advantage of Gordiano’s services they also turned her into a source of income arranging her marriage to an elderly relative when Gordiano was still in her twenties The relative was 78 and had a military pension – one of the best pensions in Brazil – of more than 8,000 reais a month (€1,300) who never actually lived with the Second World War veteran but she saw hardly any of the money – it went almost entirely into the family’s coffers the family used the pension to cover the costs of one daughter’s medical degree Gordiano was given as a gift to Maria das Graças Milagres Rigueira’s son veterinary professor Dalton Milagres Rigueira it was common to donate slaves to children as a wedding gift or to include them in a will along with other assets slaves were often the most valuable part of the estate Investigative journalism has revealed that Gordiano’s twin sister also lived as a domestic worker with another branch of the same family the Brazilian state attracted European labor by granting land and promising other benefits with the explicit purpose of making Brazilian society whiter the slaves who had been set free had no recourse to public aid and were left to fend for themselves The deep-seated inequality that persists in Brazil in 2021 is a direct consequence of slavery and its aftermath Black and mixed-race Brazilians are far poorer than their white compatriots; while they make up 56% of the population but just 15% of judges and 1% of award-winning actors according to data from fact-checking agency Lupa Their families earn half as much money as their white counterparts and they have a shorter life expectancy Gordiano’s case has caused a stir in Brazil as did the death of a Black supermarket customer a month earlier who was beaten by two white guards outside the shop’s doors The enslaved Gordiano was located by the authorities in the home that the professor of veterinary medicine Dalton Milagres Rigueira shared with his wife Valdirene Lopes in Patos de Minas Gordiano had been kept in a small room with no window Her only relief – going to Mass in a Catholic Church where apparently nobody suspected what she was going through Her rescue was due to a complaint filed by a neighbor living in the same building with whom she was forbidden to speak but who knew of her situation from the papers she pushed under their door asking for money to buy soap and other toiletries Authorities suspected there was something suspect about Gordiano’s widow’s pension years earlier but the matter was shelved due to lack of evidence for keeping Gordiano in slave-like conditions explaining that he had not encouraged her to study because he did not think it would be to her benefit The professor has been suspended from his post at the university where he teaches the family’s lawyer considers the disclosure of the prosecutor’s case to be “premature and irresponsible” as there has been no conviction as yet and urges “cautious reflection.” More than 55,000 Brazilians working in slave-like conditions have been rescued in the last 25 years Recognition of their labor rights in 2013 was a celebrated milestone for millions but it provoked the indignation of a number of their employers One of the first slaves known to denounce mistreatment was Esperança Garcia who wrote in September 1770 to the governor of the Brazilian state Piauí Having been taught illegally by the Jesuits to read and write Garcia complained of physical abuse and begged to be allowed to join her husband and baptize her daughter Gordiano’s captivity ended thanks to an anonymous neighbor allowing her to enjoy Christmas in a women’s shelter while waiting to be reunited – coronavirus restrictions permitting – with some of the siblings she begged for something to eat with 38 years ago English version by Heather Galloway ¿Quieres añadir otro usuario a tu suscripción ¿Por qué estás viendo esto? cambia tu suscripción a la modalidad Premium Cada uno accederá con su propia cuenta de email lo que os permitirá personalizar vuestra experiencia en EL PAÍS ¿Tienes una suscripción de empresa? 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Equinox Resources (ASX:EQN) is set to launch a drilling program across target areas at the Mata da Corda Rare Earth Project in Minas Gerais Priority targets at the project have been granted environmental authorisation from the Secretary of State for Environment and Sustainable Development of Minas Gerais.  which has a market capitalisation of $36.43 million says the program will involve drilling priority areas up to 20m depth aimed at achieving rapid sample turnaround to substantiate the surface samples at depth.  The second phase of drilling is in the final stages of planning with the company securing a drilling contractor in the region to initiate a maiden reverse circulation drilling program across its “high-grade” prospects.  Phase two aims to achieve depths up to 60m.  Managing Director Zac Komur says results from surface samples are returning up to 5,024 parts per million (ppm) total rare earth oxide (TREO) and with an area of over 30km2 returning results greater than 2,000ppm TREO it outlines the need to expedite a target drilling program “We have purchased our own auger drill rigs which not only provides us with greater flexibility and operating times and our ability to get the samples to the laboratory in a timely manner,” he says.  “We are excited for the next stages of work at Mata de Corda as we aim to uncover a high-grade ionic rare earth element clay deposit.” The drilling targets have been prepared based on the highest grade surface sample areas across the Mata da Corda formation Additional surface sample results are anticipated from the laboratory in late July Further results will also highlight any additional targets across the 947.98km2 landholding.  The Mata de Corda and Campo Grande projects cover a combined 2,550km2 area Mata de Corda is considered prospective for ionic clay-hosted rare earths deposits in the State of Minas Gerais Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au    ASX ends winning streak as energy sector tumbles05 May Military Metals discusses antimony exploration in Slovakia05 May Unico Silver makes ‘multiple new discoveries’ at Cerro Leon05 May Critica readies to drill satellite rare earths targets    05 May Gusttavo Lima is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and record producer who has a net worth of $8 million Gusttavo Lima rose to international fame in 2011 with his smash single "Balada." Since then he has released such further hit singles as "Gatinha Assanhada," "Diz Pra Mim," "Homem de Família," "Apelido Carinhoso," and "Zé da Recaída." Earlier in his career Lima was a member of the groups Trio Remelexo and Gustavo & Alessandro Gusttavo Lima was born as Nivaldo Batista Lima on September 3 and joined his older brothers Marcelo and Willian in the music group Trio Remelexo Lima left the group and traveled to Brazil where he adopted the stage name Gusttavo and formed the Sertanejo music duo Gustavo & Alessandro Lima released his self-titled debut solo studio album Versos e Vinhos." After signing with the label Som Livre in 2010 "Inventor dos Amores," which launched three successful singles: the title track "Cor de Ouro," and "Refém." Lima went on to have his international breakthrough in 2011 with his live album "Gusttavo Lima e você," which was recorded in Patos de Minas in front of around six million people The album launched the smash single "Balada," which peaked at number three on the Billboard Brasil Hot 100 and charted in several countries around the world Lima embarked on his first international tour in 2012 "Ao Vivo em São Paulo," which spawned the hit single "Gatinha Assanhada." It produced the hit singles "Diz Pra Mim," "Fui Fiel," "Tô Solto na Night," and "10 Anos." In 2015 "Buteco do Gusttavo Lima," which included a number of popular Brazilian artists performing well-known Sertanejo songs he released the live album "Gusttavo Lima 50/50," a major success that launched the number-one hit singles "Que Pena Que Acabou" and "Homem de Família." Lima had further number-one hits with the songs "Abre o Portão Que Eu Cheguei" and "Apelido Carinhoso," the latter from his 2017 album "Buteco do Gusttavo Lima Vol 2." He continued his success with a trio of live albums: "O Embaixador" (2018) Number-one hits from these albums included "Zé da Recaída," "Cem Mil," "Milu," and "A Gente Fez Amor." Lima's arrest was ordered by a judge in Pernambuco on charges of money laundering and illegal gambling related to the sale of three aircraft by his company Balada Eventos Lima was granted habeas corpus and the arrest order was suspended © 2025 Celebrity Net Worth / All Rights Reserved