Gold research authorized in area neighboring the Yanomami – 03/24/2023 – Daily life

With the endorsement of the GSI (Institutional Security Office) of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government, the ANM (National Mining Agency) granted a research permit, for a period of three years, to search for gold in an area of ​​9,800 hectares adjacent to the Yanomami Indigenous Land.

The license was granted on the 14th to Creusa Buss Melotto, who has already served a prison sentence for drug trafficking and who was denounced by the Public Prosecutor’s Office on suspicion of receiving stolen tires.

The area requested by Melotto is on the border, in Roraima, and therefore prior authorization by the National Defense Council is required. These acts, called prior assents, are signed by the GSI minister of the Presidency of the Republic, who is the council’s executive secretary.

Assent to the gold exploration project in an area 7.8 km from Yanomami land was given by the minister of the GSI in the government Jair Bolsonaro (PL), reserve general Augusto Heleno. Authorization was given on December 14, 2022 and published in the Official Journal of the Union the following day, at the end of the last administration’s lights.

The story was revealed by Sheet in an article published on January 16.

Based on the revelation, the Sustainability Network party pointed out the impact on the Yanomamis and asked the STF (Federal Supreme Court) to annul the authorization given by Bolsonaro’s GSI minister.

The request was made in the course of a lawsuit in the STF filed by the party, also based on reports by the SheetDecember 2021. The reports revealed that Heleno authorized the advancement of seven gold exploration projects in indigenous lands in the region known as Cabeça do Cachorro, in Amazonas, one of the most preserved in the Amazon.

In January, the president of the STF, Rosa Weber, asked the current GSI minister and the ANM directors for information on Heleno’s acts – including the last one, of gold exploration in an area adjacent to Yanomami land, in Roraima – Lula government.

It was in this context that reserve general Marco Gonçalves Dias, minister of the GSI of Lula’s presidency, endorsed the act of his predecessor and former colleague in uniform.

The minister sent a response to the president of the STF on January 20. According to him, Heleno’s act is “legitimate” and “deserves to survive”.

The area to be explored is already occupied and parts coincide with two agrarian reform settlements, under the management of Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform), according to the general’s letter.

A third settlement separates the indigenous land from the area for gold exploration, pointed out the document from the GSI minister. 600 families live in the settlements, and there is no information about consultations with them regarding the private gold exploration project in the territories.

The process for opening mines involves an area 60 times larger than the Ibirapuera park in São Paulo.

A Sheet, Melotto said he will start prospecting for gold in 15 days, through Coopercajaí (Mucajaí Mineral Exploration Cooperative). Mucajaí is the name of one of the rivers that cross the Yanomami land and also the name of a municipality in Roraima, 40 km from Iracema (RR), the city where the area with a research permit granted by the ANM is located.

According to the miner, the research includes gold and cassiterite, which are already heavily exploited illegally within the indigenous land.

On January 20, the Lula government declared a state of public health emergency in the territory, due to the explosion in cases of malaria and diseases associated with hunger, such as severe malnutrition, acute diarrhea and pneumonia. One of the causes of the humanitarian crisis is the invasion of more than 20,000 illegal miners. An operation started in February is trying to remove the invasion from the indigenous land.

“I go after the ‘gossip’ of ancient miners, to find out where to look. We go with a pickaxe, shovel and manual probe after gold and cassiterite”, stated Melotto. The research will also take place in the settlements, according to her. “It’s a matter of patience. When we find it, we send it for analysis by laboratories and to the ANM, for the issuance of the operating license.”

The miner said she had already served her sentence and was responsible for a cooperative with more than 50 miners in Roraima, as well as a second one in Pontes e Lacerda (MT), where there is already gold mining.

In the ongoing process at the STF, the minister of the AGU (Attorney General of the Union), Jorge Messias, also expressed his opinion, in an opinion signed on February 7. According to Messias, the current government is based on “stricter decision-making foundations” to reject requests that interfere with indigenous lands.

The attorney general of the Union, however, cited the position of the GSI and said that the authorization for gold exploration in an area adjacent to Yanomami land does not contemplate an overlap with the territory.

The ANM, in the same process, stated that the granting of a permit by the agency does not depend on prior authorization from Incra, when the area involves agrarian reform settlements. This should only occur for entry into the area, according to the ANM.

About the permit granted, the agency said, in a note, that the grant does not include mining, but only research for sizing the reserves, and that the act followed all the legal precepts.

“All granting procedures in the border strip were followed and the granting was preceded by the assent issued by the National Defense Council,” said the agency. According to the agency, the Mining Code does not provide for analysis of criminal records for the issuance of a research permit.

The Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, also saw no problem with the search for gold. “The fear is understandable, particularly considering the context of the humanitarian crisis that has hit the Yanomami indigenous people. However, there is no indication in the file of a current act authorizing exploratory activity with potential impact on the region that would trigger an immediate alert.”

In the program Roda Viva, on TV Cultura, aired on Monday (20), the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, was questioned about the endorsement given by Lula’s GSI to gold research in an area neighboring the Yanomami. According to her, Lula asked the ANM for information, and the ministry did the same. “If it’s illegal, everyone has to fight it, especially the government,” said the minister.

The action in the STF is reported by Minister Nunes Marques, who has not yet issued decisions on the authorizations given.

Prior approvals for gold exploration in Cabeça do Cachorro were annulled by General Heleno himself, in view of the opening of an investigation by the MPF (Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office) to investigate the revelations made by the Sheet and after verification by the government that the acts referred to areas in indigenous lands, which is illegal.