Brazilian techniques cause environmental disaster in Colombia – 05/16/2023 – Environment

In much of Colombia, the first references that come to mind when Brazil is mentioned are samba and football.

However, in the region of Bajo Cauca, located to the north of the Department (State) of Antioquia, another theme dominates the imagination of Brazilians: illegal mining.

Bajo Cauca is made up of just six municipalities, with a population of approximately 300,000 people.

Still, it is responsible for more than 50% of the gold extraction in Colombia.

In 2005, two Brazilians who had operated in Serra Pelada took a series of equipment that boosted the illegal extraction of gold, as well as the environmental impacts.

In March of this year, the governor of Antioquia, Aníbal Gaviria, stated that the damage caused by mining is responsible for the “greatest environmental disaster” in the Department’s history.

Antioquia has lost more than 500 thousand hectares of forest in the last 20 years. In Bajo Cauca alone, 60,000 hectares have been deforested and more than 200,000 trees cut down.

Experts point to illegal mining as one of the main factors responsible for this scenario.

Thus, the implementation of equipment such as the so-called “Brazilian dragons” was a fundamental part of the worsening of environmental conditions.

In addition, there is still the use of so-called “dredgers”, metallic equipment usually made by hand and which are used in the region’s rivers, boosting silting.

On social networks, BBC News Brasil found profiles teaching how to produce the material.

The professor of international business at the Ceipa University Foundation Daniel Bonilla Calle states that “Brazilians are more specialized in the use of machinery and dredgers. Before, there was not so much technology in the extraction of gold”.

Rafael Correa Argota is a professor at the University of San Buenaventura and has carried out a series of studies on the impacts of illegal mining in the region.

He also observed Brazilian equipment aggravating the damage in the region.

“In 2005, I started listening to the theme of dragons, which were a type of reengineering that optimized the extraction of the mineral and a backhoe was not so necessary. Thus, the extraction became more competitive, since it moved up to 20 times more amount of earth with a dragon than with a backhoe”, he pointed out.

‘School’ in Serra Pelada

Among more than 20 Brazilians arrested in the last ten years due to the illegal exploration of gold in Bajo Cauca, two had worked in the past in the historic mining of Serra Pelada, in Pará.

They were pointed out by the Colombian justice system as some of the main responsible for the implementation of new mining techniques from 2005 onwards.

In 2016, one of them was arrested and pointed out by the local police as the creator of the “dragons”.

Among the charges were conspiracy to commit a crime, environmental contamination, damage to natural resources and violation of borders for the exploitation of resources. So far, he remains in custody.

The second prospector died of Covid-19 while the case against him, with similar accusations, was running. Both are also accused of intensifying mercury contamination in Bajo Cauca.

profitable business

Bonilla Calle recalls that, from the 2000s onwards, the rise in international gold prices spurred exploration.

The metal comes from a historic advance in prices, and operates close to its maximums currently, at around US$ 2,000 (R$ 9,823) a troy ounce quoted in New York. In 2015, the quotation was around US$ 1,000.

In some towns in the area, the percentage of the population whose income is directly linked to gold extraction exceeds 50%, points out the professor.

The most recent report by the Comptroller General of the Nation in Colombia pointed out that about 63% of the 53 tons of gold that the country exploits annually are the result of illegal mining.

As a result, 85% of metal exports in the country do not have a legal origin, according to the publication.

Attraction to criminal groups

The profitability of illegal mining has caught the attention of criminal groups. Bonilla Calle points out that Bajo Cauca is an isolated region, and that a violent control of businesses has begun.

Today, the people in charge of the mining are the so-called Clan of the Gulf, a paramilitary organization that exerts influence over a series of illegal businesses in Colombia.

“There is limited impact of State actions. It is a distant region, which is six hours from Medellín, for example”, stated the professor, mentioning the Antioque capital.

Some equipment used in mining can cost up to US$ 500,000 (R$ 2.45 million), and the resources of criminal groups are seen as important to guarantee access to such means.

Furthermore, Bonilla Calle claims that groups such as Clan of the Gulf offer protection to illegal miners. Usually, the criminal group earns part of the income obtained from the gold, including frequent extortions.

In March of this year, a major strike affected the Bajo Cauca region for weeks, a movement that the Colombian government accuses of having been encouraged by the Clan of the Gulf.

Protesters demanded measures to formalize mining in the region, an issue that has long been discussed.

For Corre Argota, there are currently mechanisms to seek the legalization of extractions, but the State fails to monitor the gold that comes out of Bajo Cauca.

“If the State does not carry out checks and controls, starting from the extractive process, it is difficult to have control, since exploitation is practically dominated by criminal and illegal groups. It is necessary for the State to be present and verified for this entire process” affirm.

troubled relationship

The relationship between Brazilians and Colombians has never been the easiest. Wilmar Alexander Cano is a professor at the University of Antioquia, who studies such movements in the country.

“Historically, migrations for mining have generated many conflicts. The landowners are the locals, who have control of the territory, and normally agreements are sought for exploitation”, he says.

However, often some kind of agreement is signed with local actors, and includes counterparts for a region with little state presence.

“They bring income to the cities and, sometimes, infrastructure, such as schools”, points out Cano.

harm reduction

In some spots, the Bajo Cauca has also had some containment of damages related to illegal mining, and one of the most notorious is the use of mercury, which plagued the region for decades.

Correa Argota points out that, since 2014, the government has implemented strategies to reduce the use of the material by industrial companies and artisanal miners.

“I have noticed that many no longer use mercury, I have seen that it is a practice that has been gradually decreasing. If you start to address the issue, it can improve, but it does not disappear overnight. There are the results of years and years out of control,” he assesses.

For the researcher, the solution to the problem involves greater investment by the State.

“Only 15 years ago was it possible to have a municipality in Bajo Cauca connected to a national road. It is a process of changing this paradigm of thinking, greater investment in education and greater coverage for vulnerable families is needed.” In his view, this will make it possible for the population to see “mining as an option, but not the only one”.