Brazilians elected at least eight names for the National Congress linked, directly or indirectly, to prospecting and mining. They are parliamentary partners of companies in the sector or that have strong articulation in favor of the activity.
Driven by Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) speech, at least 79 mining-related candidates ran in this year’s elections — 35 of them for Congress.
For the state assemblies, at least ten names were elected. Another 21 remained as alternates.
In the survey, the report crossed the database of mining processes at the National Mining Agency with that of candidates from the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) and their respective companies, in addition to identifying politicians who publicly defend and work in favor of mining.
The strength of mining in Congress, however, is not limited to these eight congressmen. Very close to the ruralist bench, mining has one of the most powerful lobbies in Brasília and good traffic in the Planalto Palace.
No wonder, the agenda gained strength in the Bolsonaro government with the advance, for example, of the bill that allows mining in Indigenous Lands (TI) – which is currently prohibited. The urgency request for the proposal gathered 279 favorable votes in the Chamber of Deputies.
Of the eight elected directly or indirectly linked to mining or mining, seven will be in the Chamber and one in the Senate next year. Among the federal deputies, six names were reelected.
One of them is José Medeiros (PL-MT), deputy leader of the Bolsonaro government and author of a bill that allows mining in protected areas. He has already publicly criticized Ibama and the destruction of gold mines in Pará.
wanted by Sheethe says that he defends the regulation not only of mining but also of the exploitation of wood and that the garimpeiros are made illegal by the excess of bureaucracy created by the State for the activity.
“The mining done by the big national and international mining companies, I’ve never seen criticism about them, no matter if they cause environmental problems or kill people with dams”, says the deputy.
Joaquim Passarinho (PL-PA), re-elected, has already publicly defended the activity and, as the Public Agency showed, opened the doors of Brasília to lobbyist Wescley Tomaz, councilor in Itaituba (PA) also known as councilor for garimpeiros.
Tomaz, for example, was in the delegation of politicians from Pará who met with Bolsonaro in April to defend the regularization of mining. He has been to Passarinho’s office several times.
Sought, Passarinho stated that he defends both the exploitation and the preservation of the environment.
“In my third term, I will continue to defend the activity of small mining in permitted areas and in a legal manner. […]. Our intention is to legalize, to work for the legality of people who need mining, small miners, medium miners and cities that have mining as their main economy,” he said.
Tomaz, by the way, was successful at the polls — he managed to jump from the Chamber of Itaituba to the Legislative Assembly of Pará, through the PSC. Questioned by the report by messages since last Wednesday (5), he did not respond.
For example, former senator Flexa Ribeiro (PP-PA), who was trying to return to the position he already held (between 2011 and 2018), was not so lucky. He is linked to Dirceu Frederico Sobrinho, an alternate on his 2018 ticket — when they were not elected either.
as showed the Sheet, Sobrinho orchestrated, through his company FD Gold, a scheme to extract illegal ore in prohibited areas and, through banks, resell the material abroad. He is also president of the National Gold Association and owner of the 77 kg of ore seized by the Federal Police (PF) in the interior of São Paulo in May. He was arrested in September by order of the Federal Court of Rondônia.
The reporter tried to contact Ribeiro since last Wednesday, by phone, but received no response.
Another who was unlucky at the polls was Beto Ourominas (PSC-AP), who used the name of the mining company he founded — suspected of illegally mining gold in the Yanomami Indigenous Land.
He declared to the TSE to have more than R$ 100 million in assets. Despite using the name Ourominas in the elections, he is no longer a formal partner in the company.
Currently, the company is headed by his brother Juarez Soares, who is responsible in court, along with his firm, for crimes against the environment, money laundering and smuggling.
Beto tried to get elected by Amapá, the state where he is trying to get approval to build his own mine.
“I’m in love with Amapá and with gold,” he told Sheet, before the elections. “The relationship I have with Ourominas is family and a very strong nature that defends the activity. It is possible to restore the environmental damage caused by mining until today, but prejudice prevents the work of the garimpeiros, who are encouraged to go underground.”
The report tried again to contact him after the results of the polls, but could not.
Another name that failed in the elections was Rodrigo Cataratas (PL-RR), leader of the Garimpo É Legal movement and suspected of organizing a group that has already handled R$ 200 million with illegal gold and was the target of PF actions.
On the eve of the elections, he was arrested on suspicion of buying votes. To the TSE, he declared that he owned R$ 4.5 million in cash and was one of the main names of the party in his state — he ran for number 2222. But he ended up with less than 10 thousand votes and was not elected.
He stated that, despite the result at the polls, he found positive the balance of people who believe in the need to have a representative of the miners in Brasília.
“We will continue to carry the message of the need to resolve this conflict between gold miners and federal agencies. This mission is now with the elected parliamentarians and I ask them to look at this significant portion of the population, which continues to be victims of abuse of authority by federal agencies. “, said.
The elected deputy Hugo Leal (PSD-RJ) has held shares in a mining company for more than seven years. Asked about his position regarding, for example, mining, he defended that the activity be regulated.
“I defend effective regulation, so that the product found stays in the country regularized and generating foreign exchange. Mining is not an activity that has ideal conditions for effective inspection,” he said.
Another who is in charge of mining processes in the ANM is Antônio Doido (MDB-PA), elected federal deputy. He is the former mayor of São Miguel do Guamá, in Pará, and has 19 requests for land use in his name, all in the state, one of the most affected by extractive activities in the country. Wanted through the number informed to the TSE as his campaign, he did not respond.
Silas Câmara (Republicans-AM), re-elected, was one of the parliamentarians who voted in favor of the urgency of the bill that allows mining in Indigenous Lands. In late 2021, he called “terrorism” the PF action that destroyed garimpeiro ferries on the Madeira River.
Deputy Éder Mauro (PL-PA) was also re-elected, author of a project that releases mining in extractive reserves and of another text that transfers the power of inspection against mining to municipal bodies. As the website Repórter Brasil showed, the ex-policeman is a confessed murderer and is responsible for crimes of murder, invasion of property and torture.
Mauro and Nicoletti (União Brasil-RR), another who was reappointed for another four years, voted in favor of the urgency of voting on the proposal that frees up mining in ILs. The latter is also a former president of the PSL in his state and defends the regularization of extraction in indigenous territories.
Silas Câmara and Éder Mauro were contacted by message and call, but did not respond. Deputy Nicoletti’s staff contacted the report, but did not send a position until the publication of this text.
In the Senate, the mandate was won by Wilder Morais (PL-GO), owner of five mining processes in the ANM database — one of them for research (first phase before extraction) of gold ore in Quirinópolis (GO). He did not respond to questions in the report, made since last Wednesday (5th) through his lawyer.
He will be his colleague in the Senate Hamilton Mourão (Republicans-RS), who, despite not having records at the ANM or publicly defending the activity, usually opens his agenda to receive representatives from the sector.
As the Mining Observatory website showed, Mourão had, during the government, a series of meetings with leaders of the garimpeiro movement, such as José Altino, founder of the National Union of Garimpeiros; and Dirceu Frederico Sobrinho, president of the National Gold Association (Anoro), arrested in September.
Mourão has also come out publicly to contest the number of prospectors working in the Yanomami TI — a number that is around 20,000, according to the MPF (Federal Public Ministry), but which, for him, is no more than 3,500. In 2021, he announced a PF operation to fight miners on the Madeira River (AM), which, according to local leaders, allowed offenders to flee before the arrival of security forces.
Also questioned since last Wednesday, through his advice, the current vice president did not respond.
Elected candidates linked, directly or indirectly, to gold mining and mining
Chamber
- Antônio Doido (MDB-PA)
- José Medeiros (PL-MT)
- Joaquim Passarinho (PL-PA)
- Delegate Eder Mauro (PL-PA)
- Hugo Leal (PSD-RJ)
- Silas Câmara (Republicans-AM)
- Nicoletti (Union Brazil-RR)
Senate
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