"Nickel price shrugs off Vale Onça Puma halt after court order", 18 October 2021

...Vale reported...it has once again halted operations at its Onça Puma nickel mine after the state of Pará, Brazil, obtained a court order to reinstate the suspension of the venture’s operating license.

Operations at Onça Puma were first halted in early October, but a judge granted Vale an injunction on October 7 allowing it to resume activities.

The suspension comes after a new decision by a higher court. Vale said that it would take measures seeking to overturn the decision.

Pará’s environment department said on October 4 that the license was suspended due to Vale’s failure to comply with terms of the permit, which included an obligation to provide services for communities surrounding the mine.

Small farmers in the region allege that they live in isolation and have not received any support from Vale since the project started up. 

According to a report from the NGO Finnwatch, Vale operations generated deforestation and polluted the Cateté river, and threaten the lifestyle of the Amazon’s indigenous tribe known as the Xikrin.

In 2018, a Brazilian court ordered Vale to pay the Xikrin and Kayapo indigenous tribes $26.8 million over river contamination and public health-related issues...