The Ministry of Justice and Public Security extended the use of the National Public Security Force in the Sararé Indigenous Land, located in Mato Grosso, in support of the National Indian Foundation (Funai). The Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) has reported environmental damage in the region caused by illegal mining.
The extension was authorized by Ordinance No. 284, published by the ministry in Official Diary of the Union today (23). The performance has a period of 60 days, to be closed on March 22, focusing on “the activities and services essential for the preservation of public order and the safety of people and property”.
Illegal gold mining in the region has been denounced by Ibama. In a note published at the end of December, the agency informed that, between July 2016 and November 2022, “340 hectares of native forest area in the Sararé Indigenous Land were degraded with illegal mining activity, in addition to the silting up of courses d’ water, contamination, deforestation and fish mortality in rivers”.
environmental damage
According to Ibama, the environmental damage caused by mining stems from the removal of vegetation cover, as well as the surface layer of the soil, made by prospectors in order to reach the sedimentary portion with the potential to find gold.
This removal is done by means of water jets, and the resulting slurry is then pumped to the so-called “gravimetric tables”, made of wood covered with carpet to separate the ore from the other residues, which end up becoming a slurry to be discarded on site. .
“The carpets that retain the gold particles are washed with mercury in a pan so that, together, the particles form an amalgam. The material is burned with a torch, which causes the mercury to evaporate and the raw gold remains. The use of mercury contaminates water, fish and humans, in addition to the deforestation caused to access the subsoil and the silting up of rivers”, informed Ibama.
Hydraulic excavators are also used in this process, in order to scale production – and, consequently, further increase environmental damage.
