General Augusto Heleno, minister of the GSI (Institutional Security Office), defended this Monday (6) the authorizations signed by him that allow the advance of gold mining in one of the most preserved areas of the Amazon.
The MPF (Federal Public Ministry) in Amazonas opened an investigation procedure to analyze the authorizations signed by the minister, also on Monday.
The defense made by the general and the opening of the procedure by the MPF took place after the sheet reveal, in an article published on Sunday (5), the approvals given for researching gold in the extreme northwest of Amazonas, one of the most conserved places in the country.
Heleno is the executive secretary of the National Defense Council, the body responsible for allowing the advance of mining projects along the 150-kilometer-wide border.
As a representative of the council, he authorized seven gold research fronts on Brazil’s border with Colombia and Venezuela, in the region known as Cabeça do Cachorro. It’s the first time this has happened in at least ten years.
“Folha de S.Paulo ignores Law 6.634/79 and Decree 85.064/80. It is legal to authorize the exploration/mining of minerals, along the frontier, including the Amazon. In compliance with legislation and the environment, we will continue to map our riches for the good of Brazil and our people,” stated the minister, in a post on a social network.
Law No. 6,634 details what is allowed for the border strip. The aforementioned decree regulates the law.
The opening of a preliminary procedure, called news of fact, was ordered by the Attorney of the Republic Igor Spindola.
The procedure states that the Cabeça do Cachorro region is characterized by the large amount of indigenous lands, with São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM) being the most indigenous municipality in Brazil.
“This type of situation configures a latent hypothesis of necessary monitoring and inspection by the MPF, whether due to the fully presumed social damage [em relação à exploração de terras indígenas] or because of the potential environmental damage, since the region has several conservation units”, said Spindola in the dispatch that forwards the establishment of a de facto news.
Senator Eliziane Gama (Cidadania-MA) stated that her party will join the STF (Supreme Federal Court) with a lawsuit against the authorizations given by the GSI minister. Deputy Paulo Teixeira (PT-SP) said he will file a similar action in court.
Deputy Marcelo Freixo (PSB-RJ) forwarded representation to the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras. And the PSOL bench in the Chamber will enter with representation in the MPF against the general’s actions.
In a public note released on Monday, the FOIRN (Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Rio Negro), which represents the 23 indigenous peoples of the region, expressed “indignation” at the minister’s stance, identified the acts as “authoritarian” and said that it analyzes the processes mentioned in the article to adopt the appropriate legal measures “so as not to allow the most preserved region of the Amazon to be threatened by the predatory policy of the current government”.
The seven authorizations given by Heleno, for gold research in the region of São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM), were signed between April and December 2021. Of these, six refer to exploration in “Union land”, as informed by interested businessmen to the ANM (National Mining Agency).
Satellite images of the areas to be explored, reproduced in GSI documents, show that at least two lands are among indigenous lands. One is very close to Pico da Neblina National Park.
One of the approved requests concerns an exploration in “third-party property”, but there are no details in the documents delivered to the ANM and with the possibility of public consultation.
Altogether, authorizations for gold research in the region, almost untouched, are equivalent to an area of 12,700 hectares.
Since the beginning of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, Heleno has already granted 81 mining permits in the Amazon, including exploration and mining permits. The largest amount was in 2021: 45, according to acts published until the last 2nd, being the largest amount since 2013.
A sheet analyzed extracts from 2004 acts of prior consent, signed in the last ten years. For this, it used the database maintained by the GSI itself. The extracts are published in the Official Gazette of the Union.
A research authorization allows “analysis and study activities in the area in which it is intended to work”, according to the ANM. These are the tasks required to define an ore deposit.
Agreements given for gold exploration in the Amazon benefit businessmen with areas embargoed by Ibama (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources). This includes one of the projects in São Gabriel da Cachoeira.
The general’s actions also responded to requests from a member of a cooperative of miners who operate suction dredgers in riverbeds in the Amazon and also from a lawyer who is now the chief of staff of a senator from Mato Grosso.
One of the authorizations was given to the company SF Paim, located in São Gabriel da Cachoeira. The area to be researched, in search of future gold deposits, has 1,110 hectares in the municipality’s region.
Heleno’s act is dated August 16, 2021, from the submission of a process by the ANM (National Mining Agency).
Ibama’s public system for consulting embargoed areas –a measure adopted in the case of environmental infringements– shows that SF Paim had an area closed by inspectors on July 31, 2021, which was included in the list of embargoes on September 2nd. The area is in Tapauá (AM).
The report was unable to contact the phone informed by SF Paim.
The GSI did not comment on the specific cases shown in the report. In a statement, he stated that there are acts of assent throughout the Amazon region, aimed at researching or exploring “several minerals considered strategic for Brazil in recent decades”. The processes are instructed by the ANM, according to the GSI.
“The granting of prior consent for gold research or mining in the Amazon region follows the same procedural rites as any other mineral, regardless of the region of the border strip in which it is located, under penalty of causing damage to the Union, states and municipalities if there were any kind of favoring from one region to another”, says the note.
Passing through the Defense Council maintains control and monitoring of activities in sensitive areas and provides important information for the president to make decisions, according to the GSI. “There was no evidence of legal impediment to the request of interested parties for the executive secretary to sign the acts of assent.”
The ANM stated that mining requirements can only apply to free and unencumbered areas.
“The ANM will not approve the application for any mining title if it concerns an encumbered area or an area with any other legal block, such as indigenous lands or full protection conservation units. The electronic application system does not accept”, he said, in note.
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