Amidst the characteristic green area of Serra Curral, in Minas Gerais, workers and machinery stand out amidst the landscape. Workers in uniforms and helmets drill water wells at what could be part of the facilities of a mining project licensed by the state government on April 30.
These wells are intended to guarantee emergency water supply to Belo Horizonte and the region, in the event of possible dam failures that jeopardize the Velhas river basin.
Another contrast to the landscape is caused by environmentalists and residents, who carry banners and megaphones as they protest against mining on the site. The water security of BH and the cities in the metropolitan region is one of the main concerns of those who are against the installation of the Taquaril Mineração SA (Tamisa) project in the Serra.
The works are part of the Conduit Adjustment Agreement (TAC) signed by Vale with the Public Ministry, the government of Minas Gerais and Copasa (Sanitation Company of Minas Gerais), after the rupture of the Mina Córrego do Feijão dam, in Brumadinho. .
According to Apolo Heringer Lisboa, a professor at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais), several springs and water courses in the Serra do Curral that supply the Velhas River will dry up with the lowering of the aquifer, caused by the Thames project.
The wells being drilled would also no longer be sufficient to guarantee the region’s water security.
“The mountains are a huge water reserve, which appears in the springs throughout the year and keeps the Velhas river with water. We are destroying the Velhas river and the supply of Belo Horizonte and the cities that are down there”, said Lisboa during a technical visit to the Serra organized by the public administration commission of the Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais (ALMG), which the report followed last Monday (9).
The Bela Fama water catchment system, in the Rio das Velhas basin, is responsible for supplying 70% of the city of Belo Horizonte and 40% of the metropolitan region.
For Duda Salabert (PDT), councilor of Belo Horizonte, the location of the wells shows that the state government and Copasa recognize the importance of the area for the water security of the capital.
According to mining company Vale, the drilling works for the wells began in January 2021 and should be completed in the coming months.
The geologist Eclison Tolentino explains that Serra do Curral is formed by a rock called itabirite, a porous sedimentary rock that allows great water infiltration.
“When it rains, the water falls on top of the mountain range and a good part of it does not flow, it infiltrates the rock. This water accumulates there in the mountain range, because these itabirites can occupy thicknesses of 400 to 500 meters”, explains Tolentino.
The underground accumulation of water in rock is known as an aquifer. The water from this reservoir reaches streams that flow into the Velhas River, responsible for supplying BH.
The geologist explains that, with the installation of mining, cuts would be made in the rock, causing the water from the aquifer to have other outlets, not reaching the river.
This Wednesday (11), on the Sabbath of Sheet and from UOL, the former mayor of Belo Horizonte and pre-candidate for the government of Minas, Alexandre Kalil (PSD), said he was against mining in Serra do Curral. Kalil stressed that the mountain is a heritage of the capital of Minas Gerais and is in the city’s coat of arms.
A resident of the Terra Nossa occupation, in Belo Horizonte, Gilson Freitas says that the impacts on the community, which is very close to the mountains, will be very strong. One of the risks pointed out is the increase of animals in the houses, due to the loss of the natural habitat.
“Our fear is to wipe out all this green area that we have here, wipe out the fauna and flora that we fight so hard to preserve,” he says.
According to psychologist Renato Mattarelli, a resident of Sabará, the population of the city, which will also be affected, was not satisfactorily heard in the mining licensing process.
“The population of Sabará was heard in the most precarious way. There was a virtual public hearing, at the time of the pandemic, with limited presence. The simplest people could not participate because they did not have a computer or internet access”, he said.
Architect and urban planner Cláudia Pires, a resident of Nova Lima, said that the main concern of the local population is the irreversible environmental damage caused by the project.
“They are destroying our natural resources, our water resources, our forest and our air due to an activity that has been predatory for three hundred years,” she said.
Last Friday (6), a group of around 700 artists, intellectuals and writers published an open letter against mining in Serra do Curral. One of the signatories of the manifesto, actress, Bárbara Colen, from Minas Gerais, criticized the Sheet the license granted to the Thames. According to her, not even the direct impacts on the Minas Gerais capital prevented the state government from granting the license.
“I am a little perplexed that after everything that happened in Minas Gerais, after Brumadinho, after Mariana, issues related to mining are still being conducted in the irresponsible way they are being”, said the actress.
Maria Flor Guerreira, an indigenous person from the Pataxó ethnic group, was moved when she spoke out against mining in Serra do Curral. According to her, the enterprise benefits the financial interest, ignoring the damage caused to the population.
“Our great-grandchildren, our grandchildren and ourselves are not going to breathe money, we are not going to eat money. There is no wealth that pays to dismantle the Serra do Curral, a heritage full of life, pulsating in nature, in water, animals, our mining cultures and the our history,” she said.
Guerreira, who is part of the Minas Gerais Committee to Support Indigenous Causes, said that the Thames project represents for Minas Gerais society the attacks that indigenous populations have suffered in Brazil for 522 years.
“Dismantling Serra do Curral is a mistake, we cannot admit it. This permission to mine Serra do Curral is inadmissible, soon they will dismantle Belo Horizonte, because the mining company is a machine for grinding people, grinding life, to grind plants, to destroy the blood and sap,” said the indigenous leader.
The Thames mining company was contacted, but did not respond until the publication of this report.
