Illegal gold mining in Brazil: Protected indigenous land damaged in amazon

追加: 2026-06-04

[00:00:04]The Kayapo refer to themselves as Mebêngôkre, people of the water hole, and they're protective of that water and their land.

[00:00:13]They fought logging and delayed the construction of a major dam in the Brazilian Amazon.

[00:00:18]But threats persist.

[00:00:23]>> We catch fish to eat and sometimes we're eating poison.

[00:00:30]>> The Kayapo chief is referring to mercury used to extract gold from sediment during illegal gold mining.

[00:00:37]Mercury poisoning causes neurological disorders and kidney failure.

[00:00:42]When he came to power, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pledged to end the practice on indigenous lands after years of expansion under his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.

[00:00:56]>> The government didn't solve the problem of illegal mining on indigenous land. It could have been fixed. I don't know what's needed for the problem to be solved.

[00:01:07]>> Greenpeace says billions of dollars of unregulated gold has been sold since 2018.

[00:01:13]By obtaining permits for areas where there's no mining, then using those permits to falsify documents for the gold illegally extracted.

[00:01:26]>> The applicant submits the documents, the National Mining Agency grants a preliminary license, but the mining isn't carried out. There's no evidence of it in the grant area. However, the applicant collects the financial compensation and announces that they sold the gold.

[00:01:42]>> The illegal gold is thought to be taken from protected areas, including where the Kayapo live.

[00:01:48]In 2025, the police seized more than 400 kg of illegal gold.

[00:01:53]Brazil's National Mining Agency says it's monitoring permits for irregularities.

[00:01:59]But the Amazon region imposes large-scale logistical and oversight challenges.

[00:02:04]And in the meantime, the Kayapo are dealing with the toxic effects of the pollution on their land and in their waters.

[00:02:11]Imaging Kemba, Al Jazeera.