"Hyundai and Caterpillar lead the ranking of backhoes used in illegal mining operations", 18 June 2024

...IN A YEAR, 90 backhoes were seized on indigenous lands and conservation units in the Amazon. The construction machinery found in mining areas is estimated at €7.6 million.  The South Korean company Hyundai Construction Equipment topped the ranking, with at least 26 backhoes detained between April 2023 and 2024 in Brazil. The American company Caterpillar ranked second, with 13 machines seized during the period.

The use of heavy machinery in mining has scaled up illegal activities in the Amazon, contributing to the advancement of destruction. An excavator can do it in 24 hours which would take about 40 days for three men to accomplish.

The survey was conducted by Repórter Brasil with data from seizures by Ibama (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), the Brazil’s environmental agency...

Last April, Takak Ire went to South Korea to demand accountability from Hyundai after a Greenpeace report uncovered 75 multinational machines on Kayapó, Munduruku, and Yanomami indigenous lands. “Everything changed with the arrival of the machines”, explains the indigenous leader. “The loader digs deep into the ground, eats away at the banks of the streams, and widens the river. It’s a huge destruction”.

A year after Greenpeace’s report, however, Hyundai machines continue to contribute to the destruction of the forest...

When contacted by Repórter Brasil, Hyundai stated that it has been collaborating with the competent public authorities and providing information and documents requested to assist investigations and identify alleged illegal miners using their machines and equipment in the Amazon region. It also said that currently there is a “rigorous assessment process of the integrity of customers and immediate blocking of customers and consumers suspected of involvement in illegal mining activities”. According to the company, sales control “includes requirements for all customers and consumers to declare that the machines and equipment will not be used for illegal mining purposes”.

Fourteen other manufacturers were identified in the survey. Repórter Brasil contacted all companies, but only Volvo, Link Belt Excavators, John Deere, and JBC responded until the publication of this report. The companies stated that the responsibility for activities performed with the machines lies with the customer after acquiring the equipment. 

Those with location control technologies, such as Volvo, Link Belt, and John Deere, also said they could only access the information with prior authorization from the owner of the excavator, in compliance with Brazil’s General Data Protection Law. Komatsu said it has systems that detect when machinery enters protected areas, but that this monitoring “becomes more complex” when operators “intentionally remove various trackers and electronic solutions from them”.

The full responses from the manufacturers are available at this link. The space remains open for comments from other companies...