More than 200 tons of gold of suspected origin were sold in Brazil, says institute

A survey carried out by Instituto Escolhas points to signs of illegality in the sale of more than 200 tons of gold mined in the country between 2015 and 2020. According to the institute, five companies concentrated a third of this amount.

The institute calls for government action to strengthen inspections over the sector and greater participation by importing countries in tracking the origin of gold purchased in Brazil. “Today, the control of gold commercialization is very flawed”, says the manager of Portfolio of Escolhas, Larissa Rodrigues.

Based on an analysis of more than 40,000 gold trading records, information on mining processes and satellite images, the institute estimates that 229 tons of gold sold in the country during the six years surveyed have evidence of irregularities.

The volume is equivalent to half of the national production of gold in the period. The number, says Rodrigues, could be even higher, since the tracking considered only one of the gold export codes used by the Federal Revenue, the one that refers to the raw mineral, without considering other products and aggregates.

More than half of the volume of gold considered suspect by the institute was produced in the Amazon, mainly in Mato Grosso and Pará.

Among the signs of irregularities found, are the extraction beyond the limits of mining titles or in titles that advance into indigenous lands, the sale of gold originating in areas where today there is no mining and even records of sale without identification of the origin. .

In recent years, Escolhas has denounced the increase in irregularities in gold sales in the country, facilitated by the fragility of inspections and without much attention from the government, which supports the regularization of illegal mining in indigenous lands and conservation areas.

The mining activity has been the source of a series of indigenous conflicts, mainly with the Munduruku and Yanonami peoples. More recently, she was accused of changing the color of the water in the Alter do Chão resort, in Pará, on suspicion of mercury contamination from the mines on the Tapajós River.

Rodrigues demands greater inspection from bodies linked to the mining industry, such as ANM (National Mining Agency) and MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy), and from the Central Bank, responsible for controlling DTVMs (Distributors of Bonds and Securities).

These are the companies that buy gold from prospectors for resale and should act as the first barrier to control the origin of the mineral. The current tracking system, however, is not yet digitized and is based on the good faith of the originator.

“We need the Central Bank to get closer, inspect the companies it has to inspect and create the rules so that this doesn’t happen”, says the manager of Escolhas, who coordinated the study released this Thursday (10).

She also points out that the largest gold traders with suspicious origins have links with companies at other stages of the chain, from production to transport and export, generating conflicts of interest that undermine control.

Escolhas defends the approval of a bill that eliminates the distinction between mining and prospecting, claiming that the latter activity has already become an industrial operation, with heavy machinery and operation in large areas.

“Garimpo does not operate in an artisanal and rudimentary way, as it has always been argued that it operates”, says Rodrigues. “Garimpo is an industrial activity, but the law grants benefits as if it were a rudimentary artisanal activity.”

The expectation for the approval of the bill that allows mining in indigenous lands in the Amazon has provoked a rush for requests for mineral research in the region, which has already been suffering from an increase in mining since the beginning of the rise in the price of gold in 2019.

With the rise in prices, national gold production has soared in the last two years, surpassing the 90-ton barrier in 2020, with strong indications that part of this increase came from irregular areas.

“As an aggravating factor, today we have a government that is in favor of mining in the Amazon, which comes out making statements in favor of this activity and disregards the problems in the chain”, says Rodrigues. “We’re talking about mercury contamination, invasion of indigenous lands, a series of environmental failures.”

The ANM said, through a note, that it has two projects to improve the inspection of the sector. The first is a registration of the first acquirer, which will require companies and DTVMs to register with the agency for the acquisition of mining production.

The second is the implementation of a monthly declaration of tax information by the holders of mining titles, which must be presented even when there is no movement in the month. In addition, he said, he has already closed more than three dozen cooperation agreements with the state of Pará and Brazilian municipalities.