Mining companies back away from Brazil’s Indigenous areas

By FABIANO MAISONNAVE
Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Some of the world’s biggest mining companies have withdrawn requests to research and extract minerals on Indigenous land in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, and repudiated Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s efforts to legalize mining activity in the areas. The Brazilian Mining Association, which represents around 130 companies, conducted an internal survey of its members earlier this year. For the first time in decades, none of the companies have current research or mining applications for gold, tin, nickel, iron and other ores in Indigenous areas, he said. Neither the survey nor its results have been reported previously.