A week after the Chamber of Deputies approved the urgent request for the processing of PL 191/2020, which provides for the regulation of mining in indigenous lands, the mining sector issued this Tuesday (15) a position against the project of law.
“The Brazilian Mining Institute (Ibram) understands that PL 191/2020 is not suitable for the purposes for which it is intended, which would regulate the constitutional provision that provides for the possibility of implementing economic activities in indigenous lands such as energy generation, production of oil, gas and mining”, says the note.
In recent weeks, the sector has been criticized for its silence in the face of the bill’s progress, according to the sheet found out. Before, Ibram had only issued a position on the proposed mining in indigenous lands in June 2021, when it defended the activity, subject to consultation with indigenous peoples.
The note reinforces the position of the sector, which is favorable to the exploitation of indigenous lands, stating, for example, that “industrial mining can be made possible in any part of Brazilian territory”.
However, the sector points out conditions for the regulation of the activity, highlighting the need to consult indigenous peoples by the parameters of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, in addition to “geological research requirements, economic feasibility studies, environmental licenses based on studies and other authorizations provided for by law”.
The criteria mark the distance of the mining sector in relation to the mining activity, which would benefit from the project because it is already installed, illegally, in indigenous lands.
“Ibram condemns any illegal mining activity in indigenous lands, in the Amazon or in any part of the national territory, and believes that this activity must be rigorously fought and its promoters held criminally responsible. The preservation of the Amazon is a necessary condition for discussions by all. issues related to mining in Brazil”, says the sector note.
According to an analysis of satellite images carried out by the Mapbiomas project, the area occupied by mining within indigenous lands grew by 495% between 2010 and 2020, almost entirely in the Amazon, which concentrates 93.7% of illegal mining.
Both the regularization of illegal mining and the authorization of mining in indigenous lands are agendas defended by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) since the beginning of the government.
Authored by the Executive, PL 191/2020 had been sent to the Chamber of Deputies in February 2020. It was defended again by Bolsonaro earlier this month, on the grounds that mineral exploration in indigenous lands could solve the shortage of fertilizers. potassium, caused by the war in Ukraine. However, official data show that the potash deposits are outside indigenous lands.
Even so, the mobilization of the government base in the Chamber managed to get approval for the project to be processed on an urgent basis and plans to vote on it in early April.
For Ibram, however, there is still a lack of debate. “The regulation needs to be widely debated by Brazilian society, especially by the indigenous peoples themselves, respecting their constitutional rights, and by the Brazilian Parliament”, says the institute.
