Companies from the Santa Elina group, owned by businessman Paulo Carlos de Brito Filho, withdrew 95 requests for mineral research in indigenous lands (TIs) after questions from the Reporter Brazil and, as a result, they no longer lead the ranking of requirements that affect protected territories.
A report published last Monday (9) showed that the conglomerate was the champion of applications to research minerals in indigenous areas, having filed 255 applications with the National Mining Agency (ANM) in the last 40 years, of which it maintained 129 processes until March. The orders were made by mining companies Rio Grande, Silvana, Acará, Icana, Irajá, Tarauacá and Apoena, all linked to Brito Filho’s family.
According to the most recent survey by the ANM, the first wave of withdrawals took place on April 11 – the same day that the Reporter Brazil sent a request for a position to the Santa Elina press office. At the time, 17 waivers of research requests and 5 waivers of processes that had already been authorized by the government agency were filed.
In response to this first questioning, the group stated that it gave up requests with “total interference” in demarcated territories, but admitted to having maintained the requirements that partially affect ILs, with the objective of exploring only the surroundings (see the full of the answers here).
Two weeks later, on April 27, the report sent new questions to the company, now directed to the group’s president, Paulo de Brito Filho. On the 29th, the businessman replied saying that the conglomerate would also give up all requests that partially overlapped the territories.
The new ANM survey shows that the Santa Elina group filed 64 more withdrawal requests on April 28. Another 9 were filed on May 3 – the latest record made available by the regulatory agency.
These 95 new withdrawals correspond to an area of ​​237,363.81 hectares. Also discounting previous withdrawals, requests rejected by the ANM and authorizations granted to other companies, the group still has 20 processes in progress, which total 56,047.92 hectares and affect eight indigenous territories in the states of Rondônia, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Pará and Roraima. . The conglomerate, however, left the post of champion in applications.
In one of the positions sent to the report, Brito Filho said he condemned “any illegal mining activity in indigenous lands”, but agreed with a position of the 2021 sector, which defends the regulation of mining in these areas, “emphasizing the absolute respect for indigenous peoples”. “.
The ANM survey considers all requirements that affect traditional communities, which includes those that totally or partially overlap indigenous lands, in addition to those located around these territories.
Although mining in ITs is not authorized by law, the ANM system maintains such processes as “active”, even when the company gives up, which is pointed out as a failure by researcher Bruno Manzolli, from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. General. According to him, these areas are still “blocked” for a new requesting company, and companies with ongoing processes will have priority over mining rights in the region, if mining in ITs is regulated.
In a note, the ANM stated that it maintains the permits granted before the 1988 Constitution, those that overlap with lands that have not yet been homologated and those in the vicinity of the TIs.
In March, the Chamber of Deputies approved the urgency of processing PL 191/2020, which tries to free up economic activities on indigenous lands, including mining. Considered a priority by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the bill was the target of protests and lost support in Congress, but the discussion can still be resumed.
Research orders are the first stage of mineral exploration and the main activity of small mining companies, which usually sell the mines they prospect to be operated by larger companies. These protocols can generate a number of deals in the mining industry, involving foreign investors, stock exchanges and tax havens.
To curb this financial speculation on indigenous lands, the Federal Public Ministry has already filed several lawsuits against the ANM and against the mining companies, asking for the extinction of research requirements that impact these territories. In the most recent one, on Monday (9), the Attorney General’s Office asked for the suspension of the authorization for mineral exploration in the Rio Negro region (AM), as reported by the Sheet.
