Project favors company accused of co-opting indigenous people to explore potash in the Amazon

An eventual approval of the bill that allows mining in indigenous lands favors a company accused by the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) of attempting to co-opt indigenous people to exploit potash in the Amazon.

The Chamber approved this Wednesday (9) the urgency of voting without the issue going through the committees. However, the merits of the proposal must be voted on in April.

Potássio do Brasil Ltda., a venture by Canadian bank Forbes & Manhattan, was accused of trying to co-opt Mura indigenous people in the Autazes (AM) region between the Madeira and Amazon rivers.

The company wants to explore potential mines of potash salts less than three kilometers from an indigenous land and has even operated within the traditional territory, according to the MPF. To do so, it ignored the Mura or tried to co-opt them, according to a public civil action filed in the Federal Court of Amazonas in 2016.

Less than four months later, in 2017, an agreement between the MPF and the company, validated by the Court, sought to ensure that indigenous peoples were duly heard before the exploitation of potassium, the basis for fertilizers used in large-scale agriculture.

Potássio do Brasil’s development includes a port, an industrial plant and a road connecting the two.

According to the company’s president, Adriano Espeschit, the agreement suspended the environmental licensing process until the Mura people are consulted. The indigenous people participated in the agreement in court, according to Espeschit’s statement in a note.

“In 2019, the consultation procedure for the Mura people was triggered, but was interrupted due to the pandemic. Potássio’s principle is to respect environmental standards and the rights of traditional peoples and recognizes the importance of prior, free and informed consultation of the Mura people. “, he said.

The project was paralyzed, but the company continued to seek the ANM (National Mining Agency) to guarantee mineral exploration in areas of indigenous lands.

THE sheet identified at least three requests filed by Potássio do Brasil at the ANM, after the judicialization of the case, to try to guarantee the exploitation of potassium salts in an area related to the Jauary indigenous land, in Autazes, in the delimitation and approval phase. All of them are from 2019, the first year of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

According to the company, there are a total of four processes of the type.

The public documents available in the three processes show that these are attempts to mine in an area that involves indigenous land. Altogether, the three requirements concern an area of ​​14,100 hectares.

What the company seeks is a division of areas, to ensure the exploitation of potassium salts only in lands adjacent to the indigenous land. The processes are still in progress.

“The Potássio Autazes project is completely outside indigenous lands after the break-up of four mining processes registered with the ANM in 2019,” said the company’s president.

In all, there are 183 applications for Potássio do Brasil in the ANM, since 2008, to explore potassium salts in the Amazon.

If Congress approves the bill presented by the Executive, freeing mining on indigenous lands, Potássio do Brasil should benefit. The company said it was in favor of the forecast in the proposal for consultation with indigenous peoples.

One of the articles in the project states: “Research and mining activities for mineral resources (…) that have been regularly granted prior to the ratification of the indigenous land demarcation process must be authorized by the National Congress within four years, (…) heard the affected indigenous communities.”

The project seeks to regulate mining on indigenous lands, based on the provisions of the Federal Constitution. As there was never this regulation, the activity is vetoed in these territories.

For almost 50 years, the 1973 Indian Statute has restricted indigenous people from exploiting wealth on their lands. The bill sponsored by the Bolsonaro government overturns the article that makes this restriction. And it goes further, even allowing research and cultivation of transgenics on indigenous lands.

For the MPF, there are “incurable addiction”, “fallacy” and “conflict of interest sponsorship” in the proposal. Federal prosecutors working in the Amazon intend to challenge any law that allows mining in indigenous lands, within more than ten actions against mining in demarcated areas.

The proposal is a priority for Bolsonaro, who has been using the war between Russia and Ukraine – and a possible Russian fertilizer shortage crisis – to try to advance the bill.

The bill was presented to Congress by the Minister of Mines and Energy, Admiral Bento Albuquerque, and by the then Minister of Justice and Public Security, Sergio Moro. The two signed the justification for the proposal. Today, Moro says he is disaffected by Bolsonaro and is a pre-candidate for the presidency.

Potássio do Brasil has a dialogue in the Bolsonaro government. In the Ministry of Mines and Energy, there is an understanding that the company’s activities in the Amazon should be encouraged.

The MPF accused Potássio do Brasil of seeking environmental licensing in an incompetent court, “even though it is aware of the dimensions and degrading potential of the enterprise”.

Ipaam (Amazonas Environmental Protection Institute), not Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), granted a preliminary license in 2015 for mineral exploration within indigenous lands. There was no analysis by Funai (National Indian Foundation), according to the MPF.

The search for the license will continue to be done with Ipaam, and not with Ibama, according to Potássio do Brasil.

Prosecutors of the Republic stated in the action that mineral prospecting was carried out within indigenous lands, “causing, among others, damage to the cemetery located on Ilha do Amor”.

The indigenous and traditional riverside communities were not consulted, which is contrary to the ILO (International Labor Organization) convention, according to the MPF.

The public civil action claims that there was “conduct in bad faith, according to the various reports of the Mura indigenous people, consisting of the co-option of leaders, residents and even public servants through promises, favors and benefits, constituting serious vices of will in the decision of indigenous people”.