An expert report produced by the Federal Police based on satellite images confirms that the change in color of the water in Alter do Chão, a tourist spot in Pará known as the Caribbean of the Amazon, was caused by the intensification of illegal mining in the Tapajós River and its tributaries.
Since the beginning of the week, the PF has been carrying out an operation against illegal mining within the Tapajós Environmental Protection Area between the Crepori River and the Mundukuru indigenous land.
The expert responsible for the case analyzed images collected from July 2021 to January 2022. They show the evolution of sediments from the rivers in Mato Grosso and the “drastic increase” in the amount of dirt passing through the region of the Crepori and Jamanxin rivers, where are the targets of the PF.
The analysis by the PF expertise mapped how the “plume of sediments” that muddy the waters still originated in the state of Mato Grosso in late October and early November 2021. In the understanding of PF technicians, it is caused by deforestation on the banks of the Juruena and São Manuel rivers, which flow into the Tapajós, for monoculture plantations.
“The deforestation that takes place on the banks of the aforementioned rivers favors the leaching of sandy, clayey and silty material. These elements are carried to water bodies where the finer sediments tend to stay in suspension for longer, traveling long distances”, says the PF.
On November 25, the sediment plume was already in Itaituba and, between November 30 and December 2, it reached the crystal clear waters of Alter do Chão.
“The plume continued down the river and intensified drastically with the inflow of more sediments coming, mainly, from the Crepori and Jamanxim rivers, in the middle Tapajós”, says the report.
The PF compared images of tributaries of the Tapajós where there are no prospectors and concluded that they “remain with their darker greenish waters, indicating that they do not have suspended sediments”.
The report, although it did not analyze the river water, also warns of the use of chemical products such as mercury and cyanide in mines such as those in the Tapajós channel.
Garimpo was left in a hurry before operation
THE sheet has been following the PF’s action against mining in Alter do Chão since Monday (14).
On Tuesday (15), aboard one of the four helicopters supporting the operation, the reporting team spotted one of the first clearings opened by the miners.
When flying over the holes opened in the forest, what is seen is a mixture of the little green that remains after human action with the whitish earth due to the concentration of clay mentioned by the expert in the report.
Clay piles up beside water-filled craters that have been blasted open with water jets and bulldozers.
It is these light-colored sediments that, carried by the current to the region of Alter do Chão, make it impossible for tourists to explore the city’s crystalline waters.
“Such sediments tend to cause silting and an increase in water turbidity, strongly affecting fauna and ichthyofauna. There are also impacts related to the use of toxic chemicals, such as mercury, lubricating oils and fuels, which pollute rivers and APPs, causing various damages to human and animal health”, says the document.
In the mines, among the items most sought after by the authorities are excavators, used to clear the forest and open the mining points.
In one of these places, about 15 minutes by helicopter from the base in Jacareacanga, where security forces are camped, the signs were that the miners had recently left. The police suspects that they noticed the movement of the aircraft.
In the camp set up in the middle of the forest, the food was still hot on the stove used by the miners, and the stored water was kept cold. A pickup truck and water pumps were burned or rendered useless by police officers.
On Tuesday (15), 8 excavators were rendered useless, 2 of which were new, 14 motor pumps used in ore extraction, 3 campsites and a ferry. More than 10,000 liters of fuel were seized.
This Wednesday (16), again the police, divided into five teams, four in helicopters and one in a boat, left the support base in the early morning.
After the first day of attacking the mines, the mission is now to follow the tracks in the forest and try to find more excavators and rafts used by the miners.
