At the end of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, General Augusto Heleno authorized gold exploration in an area of 9,800 hectares adjacent to the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima. The beneficiary of the act is a woman who has already served a prison sentence for drug trafficking and who was denounced by the MP (Public Ministry) on suspicion of receiving stolen tires.
Heleno granted the so-called prior consent, an authorization necessary for undertakings such as mining in the border strip, which extends over a width of 150 km.
The reserve general was minister of the GSI (Institutional Security Office) from the beginning to the end of Bolsonaro’s term. In office, he was also executive secretary of the National Defense Council, which is responsible for saying yes or no to mineral exploration projects in the border area.
The approval for gold research, in an area adjacent to Yanomami land, was given on December 14, 2022 and published in the Official Gazette of the Union the following day.
More than 20,000 miners invaded the indigenous land and illegally exploited gold, using equipment and logistics provided by criminal groups operating in the region.
The invasion had an explosion in the Bolsonaro government, which promoted acts to stimulate mining in these territories, vetoed by the Constitution in the way it is practiced and how it was stimulated. The Lula government (PT) made a promise to remove prospectors from invading indigenous lands.
THE Sheet questioned Heleno about the authorization given 17 days before leaving the position of minister of the GSI. He said that “these prior mining consents have a long process to be regulated” and that the response to be given by the ministry, in the current management, would be sufficient. “I do not wish to comment,” he said via message.
The GSI said it was analyzing the email forwarded by the report in the early afternoon of Friday (13).
Heleno granted authorization for gold exploration, in an area 60 times larger than the Ibirapuera Park, in São Paulo, to Creusa Buss Melotto.
According to the documents that supported the prior assent, the area is located in Iracema (RR), 7.8 km from the Yanomami Indigenous Land. According to the maps available in the process, the territory advances through agrarian reform settlements.
The authorization by the National Defense Council took into account the favorable opinions of the ANM (National Mining Agency), which maintained the original requested area of 9,800 hectares.
“The process is correctly instructed and followed the normal procedure”, said the ANM, in a note. “The ANM only requests the documents provided for in the mining legislation. Investigations of past life, judicial or similar are not within the competence of the ANM, being the responsibility of specific judicial and police bodies.”
Melotto was arrested for drug trafficking in the late 1990s and served a prison sentence for six years, as she told Sheet.
“I already served my sentence. If I had a lawsuit, do you think I would be in a cooperative?”, he said.
She is referring to two mining cooperatives, one in Pontes e Lacerda (MT), where gold is being explored, and another in Iracema (RR), where the miner intends to work – she already has the approval of the National Defense Council.
Federal Revenue records show that Melotto is president of Coopercajaí (Cooperativa de Exploração Mineral de Mucajaí). Mucajaí is the name of one of the rivers that cross the Yanomami land. The cooperative, according to the Revenue, has a capital of R$ 1.45 million and wants to explore manganese, niobium, titanium and precious metals.
The prospector was denounced by the Public Ministry in Mato Grosso, in November 2017, on suspicion of receiving products stolen from a tire store in Pontes e Lacerda. Among the stolen goods were ten tires.
Melotto was even arrested red-handed for receiving, but paid bail and left prison. She said in the case file that she was not responsible for the stolen products, as the crime was allegedly committed by miners who were staying in her apartment. The garimpeiros gave testimony with a similar content.
The complaint was received by Justice. The defendant’s defense said that the process should not continue, but the Public Ministry insisted on the accusation in April 2019. In March 2022, the district of Pontes e Lacerda “saw a hypothesis of virtual prescription” of the alleged crime.
The prospector, whose address is in Vilhena (RO), did not respond to the report’s questions about the reception process.
She stated that the request for gold exploration does not refer to indigenous territory. Melotto said that this is the same situation as a second request being processed by the ANM – documents from this process show the impact of the area on Yanomami land.
“The cooperative in Roraima has 52 people. My dream is for the indigenous people to form cooperatives and explore their own areas”, stated the miner.
The first gold surveys still depend on a meeting with the cooperative members, he said. “It should take two years, the process is slow. Our work is different [de garimpeiros invasores da terra indígena]. We will only operate after obtaining all the authorizations.”
The documents that supported the prior assent point out that the authorized area is “intersected by a hydrographic network, which demands strict observance of waterway rules, as well as monitoring by the competent body due to the nature of the activity”. The project’s expenditure forecast is R$ 2.18 million.
In December 2021, the Sheet revealed that Heleno authorized the advance of seven gold exploration projects on indigenous lands in the region known as Cabeça do Cachorro, which is illegal.
Prior assents were given to people and companies interested in mining in one of the most preserved regions of the Amazon, on the border of Brazil with Colombia and Venezuela.
Faced with the revelation and the opening of an investigation by the MPF (Federal Public Ministry), the then GSI minister backed down and annulled his own acts.
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