Brazil’s mining agency under fire over corruption and omission probes
Criminal groups use small-scale mining permits as a front for gold laundering while federal oversight fails.
Federal prosecutors in Brazil's Amazonas state have taken legal action against the nation's mining agency, ANM, over alleged negligence in monitoring gold mining operations within the Amazon rainforest. The lawsuit was filed in early July, with a subsequent order from federal justice on July 21, demanding heightened oversight of wildcat mine permissions, colloquially known as garimpos in Brazil. This legal action stems from a comparable lawsuit filed in 2021 by prosecutors in neighboring Pará state.
The legal initiative has been prompted by corruption investigations into ANM's leadership, which has been accused of showing preferential treatment towards mining companies in Minas Gerais, Brazil's largest mining state. ANM is the federal agency tasked with authorizing and supervising mining operations throughout Brazil, encompassing small-scale mining permissions (PLGs) that lack the stringent environmental regulations applicable to larger-scale operations.
According to federal prosecutors, inadequate monitoring and ambiguous rules have transformed PLGs into channels for the illicit transfer of gold extracted from Indigenous territories and strictly protected conservation zones, where such activity is strictly prohibited. The allegations are substantiated by irregularities discovered in reports from Greenpeace and the Federal Court of Auditors.
The case highlights the deteriorated state of mining permits, which no longer serve the legitimate interests of small-scale miners but have, in many instances, become a vehicle for gold laundering activities orchestrated by criminal organizations. André Porreca, a federal prosecutor from the Amazonas Federal Public Ministry, stated on the agency's website that the current situation is jeopardizing the environment and the rights of Indigenous communities.
The municipality of Itaituba, located in Pará state, is notorious as the capital of illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
