Expansion of illegal gold mining in Brazil’s Amazon contaminates region with 100 tons of mercury -survey
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The expansion of illegal mining in Brazil over the past two years has caused a flood of mercury into Amazon waters. An estimated 100 tons of neurotoxic metal was used to mine gold illegally in the region in 2019 and 2020, according to estimates based on an official survey.
This gold was exported from Brazil to countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.
In an investigation prepared in collaboration with the Federal University of Minas Gerais, the Federal Ministry of Public Affairs (MPF) discovered a quantity of 49 tons of laundered gold (illegally obtained, but documented to appear legalized) from commercial agents operating in the Amazon, obtained in collaboration with criminal groups that enter protected areas in search of the metal.
Of these 49 tons, 17 were laundered in Pará – mainly in the central region of Tapajós, an area where the Munduruku indigenous people live. The social and environmental damage in the region reached R$9.8 billion, according to the MPF.
According to calculations, the extraction of this gold may have been responsible for the deforestation of 21,000 hectares of forest.
“Through its failure to implement controls for certification of origin and traceability in the production and circulation chain of gold mining, the Brazilian state promotes and is itself directly responsible for the threat and violence perpetrated against indigenous peoples, especially the Munduruku people,” stresses the MPF, which recommended a series of measures to the legal control bodies, such as the implementation of a certification and traceability system for Brazilian gold by the National Mining Agency.
Mercury is a neurotoxic metal that occurs naturally, but deforestation, burning, and especially mining release and increase its concentration in the atmosphere. The damage is usually severe and permanent.
It can cause direct changes to the central nervous system, resulting in cognitive and motor problems, loss of vision, and effects on the kidneys, heart, and reproductive system.
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