"Investment funds injected US$ 54 billion into mining companies with interests in Indigenous territories in the Amazon", 22 February 2022

...The Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), alongside environmental and human rights organization Amazon Watch with the support of The Mining Observatory, launched “Complicity in Destruction IV: How mining companies and international investors drive Indigenous rights violations and threaten the future of the Amazon“...

Together, Capital Group, BlackRock, and Vanguard invested US$ 14.8 billion dollars in the nine companies investigated due to their research applications overlapping Indigenous lands, and track record of rights violations.

Complicity in Destruction IV reveals that over the last five years, Vale, Anglo American, Belo Sun, Potássio do Brasil, Mineração Taboca and Mamoré Mineração e Metalurgia (both from Grupo Minsur), Glencore, AngloGold Ashanti and Rio Tinto received a total of US$ 54.1 billion in financing from U.S., Brazilian and international investors...

International private banks also stand out for their investments in these companies, including Crédit Agricole (France), Bank of America and Citigroup (U.S.), Commerzbank (Germany), and SMBC Group (Japan). All of these financial actors are complicit in mining-driven destruction...

Complicity in Destruction IV reveals that, despite recent statements by big mining companies claiming they would abandon their interests in Indigenous territories in Brazil, thousands of mining applications overlapping these areas are still active in the National Mining Agency’s (ANM) database.

Mining companies deny interest in indigenous lands: answers received by The Mining Observatory so far

Vale

Vale denies that it continues to have any claim on indigenous lands in Brazil. According to the mining company, in a note: “Last year, Vale announced the abandonment of all its mining processes in ITs in the country (which includes research and mining requirements). The withdrawal requests were filed with the National Mining Agency (ANM) throughout 2021. This decision is based on the understanding that mining in ILs can only be carried out with the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the indigenous themselves and legislation that allows and adequately regulates the activity.

The allegations about the alleged contamination of the Cateté River are also unfounded, which has already been corroborated in expert reports prepared by judicial experts in several scientific areas, which prove that there is no causality between the Onça Puma mining operation and the alleged contamination”.

AngloGold Ashanti

AngloGold Ashanti informs that it does not operate and has no interest in operating in Indigenous Lands (TIs). In the 1990s, the gold producer requested mineral research applications in several regions of the country. Three of these areas were later demarcated as Indigenous Lands (TIs), which led the company to give up on them. The decision was filed with the National Mining Agency (ANM) in the late 1990s. However, as there was no update of the process in the ANM system, AngloGold Ashanti ratified the withdrawal of the survey application on 21 June 2021. Currently, the company’s investments in Brazil are basically focused on the expansion of its mines located in Minas Gerais and Goiás...