An increase in small-scale gold mining has taken a toll on the Amazon, increasing deforestation and polluting waterways, according to a new report. Mining in protected indigenous areas has increased exponentially.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Images/R. Abd
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An increase in illegal gold mining in the Amazon rainforest has reached "epidemic" proportions, a study has revealed.
The report, released by the Amazon Socio-Environmental Geo-Referenced Information Project (RAISG) on Monday, exposed the damage that illicit mining for gold has had on forest and waterways, as well as on the life of indigenous tribes in the area.
Combining satellite imagery and government data, researchers identified at least 2,312 illegal mining sites that spanned across six countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela. The group was not able to collect data on mining activity in Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname.
"The scope of illegal mining in the Amazon, especially in indigenous territories and protected natural areas, has grown exponentially in recent years, with the rise in the price of gold," said Beto Ricardo, head of the RAISG.
An increase in gold prices over the past decade following the global recession has set off a gold rush, with hundreds of thousands of illegal miners pouring into the Amazon to reap the benefits.
The methods used to mine gold have taken their toll on the environment. Mercury, which is used to separate gold from grit, has poisoned the rivers, the RAISG report said.
When mercury seeps into soil, rivers and the food chain, it can cause serious health problems for the people who live in the area. The study highlighted some 55 illegal mining sites in protected areas, home to indigenous communities.
"Illegal mining can kill us," said Agustin Ojeda, an indigenous leader of Venezuela's Shirian people, as quoted in the report.
"The mining wells allow for the reproduction of mosquitoes that bring diseases, such as malaria. The effect of mercury on water isn't taken seriously either. It not only contaminates water but also the fish we eat," he explained.
One of the worst-hit areas is home to the Yanomami indigenous people, who live in a territory that stretches between Brazil and Venezuela.
Making a living in the Amazon
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Mining could expand in Brazil
The report was released just three weeks before Brazil's new president, Jair Bolsonaro, takes office on January 1. The firebrand right-wing president-elect has said he would stop recognizing new native reservation lands.
He has also expressed support for a relaxation of environmental licensing processes for infrastructure projects and other businesses. This could have a major impact in the region, as Brazil is home to the world's largest rainforest in the Amazon.
"The public narrative is to clear the area [of forests], weaken those institutions that monitor and control in favor of agribusiness and mining for the production and export of commodities, which will hasten the deterioration of the forest," Ricardo said.
Backed by a powerful agribusiness lobby, Bolsonaro has been heavily criticized by environmental groups for his plans and also his dismissal of climate change concerns.
jcg/cmk (Reuters, AFP)
Venezuela's illegal gold mines
Although working in the mines of eastern Venezuela is dangerous, diggers from all over the country head underground daily, pushed by the rise in gold prices and the severe economic crisis affecting the country.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Mafia war in Venezuelan gold mines
There is a bloody mafia war raging for control of the unlicensed gold mines in the Venezuelan state of Bolivar. Miners get killed regularly, their bodies mutilated or riddled with bullets. They have flocked to this region as President Nicolas Maduro's Socialist government has struggled with a three-year recession, spiraling inflation and food shortages.
Dangerous life in the mines of El Callao
A worker descends into an underground mine on the bank of a river in El Callao. It is believed, that 90 percent of the gold produced in the South American nation comes from illegal mines. In a country where a crushing economic crisis has fueled an epidemic of violent crime, such mines are "primarily in mafia hands," says Venezuelan Mining Chamber head Luis Rojas.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
"I'll probably do this till I die"
A narrow mine shaft is filled with water and the smell of gases. The handmade wood supports to prevent a collapse look precarious at best. But Ender Moreno is unfazed. At 18 years old, he has already been doing this job for eight years. "I'm not afraid," he says as he climbs through the pitch black, his headlamp lighting the way through the hazardous maze 30 meters (100 feet) underground.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Assault rifle shootouts common
Ender knows three young men who were killed in his neighborhood. "They were miners, but they started running around with gangsters." A while ago, his boss at the mine was killed because he refused to let mobsters take over the business. Two months before that, 28 workers were massacred at a nearby mine, in what authorities called a turf war between rival gangs.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Polluting mining
A miner shows a gold-mercury amalgam he found prospecting. At the nearby Nacupay gold mine, workers dig the earth from the bed of a contaminated river as others pour mercury into pans of extracted sediment. The open-pit mine is known as one of the most violent and polluting in the region.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Desperate situation
Ender looks for gold in an open pit. After returning back to the surface, he contemplates his future during a short break. "My mom says this is no kind of life. But I can't stop because I need the money to help her," the teenage miner says. Workers make somewhere between 260,000 and one million bolivars a month ($95 to $360 or €88 to €334) - which, they point out, is far higher than minimum wage.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Barreto
Workers sleep on-site in malaria-ridden camps
Venezuela was the first nation worldwide to eradicate malaria in its most populated areas, even preceding the United States in 1961. However, the situation now has changed for the worse, as the country has reported an increase in the incidence of malaria cases every year since 2008. The state of Bolivar accounts for the majority of these cases.
