Indigenous people in Montreal denounce the impact of Canadian mining in the Amazon

The Canadian mining company Belo Sun, which intends to install the largest open-pit gold mine in Brazil in the region of Volta Grande do Xingu (PA), is the target of complaints from Brazilian indigenous people participating in the COP15 of UN biodiversity, hosted by Canada.

In press announcements, Canada’s Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, has stated that COP15 is an opportunity for the country to show its leadership in taking action to conserve biodiversity. But, for the leaders of Apib (Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil) and the NGO Amazon Watch, the conference is an opportunity to show the opposite.

“Companies that destroy the Amazon find shelter and political support here in Canada”, said indigenous leader Dinamam Tuxá, representative of Apib, on Friday (9), at a parallel event to COP15, promoted by Amazon Watch.

On its official page, Belo Sun says it is committed to the communities where it operates and that it seeks to “keep the environmental impact to a minimum”.

Amazon Watch brought to Montreal a report on the impacts of the Belo Sun mining project, with the intention of convincing investors not to finance the Volta Grande project —whose preliminary environmental licensing license was suspended by the Justice in May for lack of consultation with communities impacted by the project.

Among the impacts raised by Amazon Watch are carbon emissions linked to deforestation and contamination caused by toxic waste from gold mining.

“Since Belo Sun’s model has an open pit and foresees, in 18 years, exploring 205,000 ounces of gold [cerca de 5.800 kg], this should emit about 3 million tons of carbon. It is a setback for the conservation of biodiversity, for the climate, for human rights and for the autonomy of indigenous peoples,” says Gabriela Sarmet, Amazon Watch’s campaign advisor for Brazil.

“At least 1,700 km^two of the Amazon rainforest are threatened by the project. Deforestation can be up to 12 times larger than the mineral exploration area”, adds Sarmet, noting that toxic waste must contaminate at least 41 km of the Xingu River and, in the most drastic scenarios, reach the Amazon River and the Atlantic Ocean.

The project must be installed less than 50 km from the main dam of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, whose diversion of the Xingu River affected the indigenous communities in the region.

“We were dealing with the problems of Belo Monte and we didn’t see that Belo Sun was already here doing a study and, when we saw it, they already had a prior license, they were already issuing the installation license, and we weren’t consulted about anything. We managed to prevent it”, said indigenous leader Bel Juruna, whose village is more than 100 km from the Belo Monte dam.

“We are on a stretch of the Xingu river with reduced flow, with the water controlled by floodgates. They close and open when they want. This has had profound impacts on our life and our culture”, he says.

“It is impossible to imagine a mining company of this size in the same region. It will be the total extermination of my people. I speak for my people, for the fish, for the trees”, he added.

For Joan Kuyek, researcher and founder of Mining Watch Canada, “this predatory behavior is endemic to Canadian mining and Brazil is one of its main focuses”. “The country’s laws, regulations and tax system are designed by and on behalf of mining companies,” she said.

“Our biggest industry is investment in Toronto, with 75% of miners being juniors looking to be taken over by the giants.”

Although it is a junior company, Belo Sun is controlled by the Canadian giant Forbes & Manhattan, founded by businessman Stan Bharti, who, in turn, also acts as a financial operator for Belo Sun and Potássio do Brasil.

Over the past four years, Bharti has met several times with Vice President Hamilton Mourão to discuss the two projects.

“Bolsonaro did not act alone against the Amazon, he found shelter in large corporations that financed his campaign and made an impact in Congress for PL 191/22, for example [projeto de lei que autoriza mineração em terras indígenas]”, says Tuxa.

Potássio do Brasil’s area of ​​operation conflicts with an indigenous land in the process of being demarcated, Soares/Urucurituba, in the region of the municipality of Autazes (AM). The Mura indigenous people report suffering pressure from the mining company to leave the territory. The company’s license is also subject to legal proceedings.

“It is essential that the repeal promised by Lula take an open position against this destruction project and revoke decree 10.657/2021, signed by Bolsonaro, which accelerates the environmental licensing of mining projects and creates a list including Belo Sun and Potássio da Brazil,” says Sarmet.

On its website, Belo Sun says that “the continued cooperation and acceptance of our affected communities is a top priority for us, and we strive to keep our environmental impact to a minimum.” Sought by email, the mining company did not return to the report’s contacts until the time of publication.

“We want to electrify our transport and energy systems, and that involves minerals. We cannot solve one problem by creating others, we know that many mineral products face environmental challenges”, he told Sheet Canadian Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault during the UN General Assembly in September.

“As a government, we want to ensure that we move towards more sustainable practices, whether for Canadian or foreign goods, but there is no regulation in the works in that regard,” Guilbeault said at the time.

_{the report Ana Carolina Amaral traveled to Montreal at the invitation of the NGO Avaaz.}