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Article

29 Aug 2017

Author:
Brazil Monitor (Brazil)

Brazil: Canadian companies knew about Amazon reserve extinction before official announcement; civil society didn’t know about it & fears conflicts with indigenous peoples

"Canadian mining have received inside information on Amazon reserve extinction", 26 August 2017

Canadian entrepreneurs knew that RENCA (National Reserve of Copper and Associates),...in the states of Pará and Amapá, would be extinct five months before the official announcement. The entrepreneurs learned of the change during the PDAC event (Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada) held in Toronto in March 2017...After presenting the extinction of RENCA for the Canadians, the government also presented a package of reformulation measures in the Brazilian mineral sector...Canada is a major explorer of mineral resources in Brazil and interest in the country's reserves has grown. According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, this was the first time that a minister of...[of Mines and Energy]...participated in the event...Today, there are about 30 Canadian companies that exploit the minerals of Brazil...The Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce, which brings together representatives of Canadian companies operating in Brazilian territory, reported on the creation of a new Mining Commission two months ago. The decision to extinguish the space was published in the Official Gazette of the Union...[on]...August 23. The press office of President Michel Temer states...that the area is a mineral reserve...[:]..."no environmental reserve in the Amazon was touched by the measure." The Minister of Mines and Energy, Fernando Coelho Filho, said that the decree aims to "inhibit and inhibit illegal activities."...According to the WWF report, the main area of interest for copper and gold exploration is in one of the protected areas, the Biological Reserve of Maicuru...[And that]...there is potential for conflict too in two indigenous reserves that are home to various ethnic communities living in relative isolation...[,]...that a "gold rush in the region could create irreversible damage to these cultures"..."If the government insisted on opening up these areas for mining without discussing environmental safeguards it will have to deal with an international outcry."