Mongabay published a five-part series delving into Brazil’s ongoing operation to evict illegal gold miners from Munduruku Indigenous territories, deep in the Amazon Rainforest.
While there has been some disruption to mining in the region, Munduruku organizations told Mongabay the operation is not yet completely successful, with small groups of illegal miners, or garimpeiros, still remaining in the forests.
The 2.4-million-hectare (5.9-million-acre) Munduruku Indigenous Territory is among the hardest hit by illegal mining, which has brought disease, mercury contamination, attacks and deaths to communities. In 2020, the Supreme Federal Court ordered the government to escalate actions against illegal mining in Munduruku and other Indigenous lands. Despite their efforts, actions up until then had been ineffective, which is why another request was made again in 2023 and the government began a new operation in November 2024.
While the operation is underway, the continued presence of invaders and their machinery in some areas of the Munduruku Indigenous Territory has raised fears among residents that mining will resume once security forces withdraw, or else spread to other conservation areas like Amanã National Forest. Conservationists agree that without concrete actions to target the high-level criminals who finance the mining activities, miners may return or migrate.
The involvement of some Indigenous Munduruku in mining is also complicating government efforts to tackle its spread, federal agents said. During reporting, Indigenous leaders and researchers who spoke with Mongabay called for alternative income options to help community members and leaders turn away from mining, strengthen food security, and improve the health and sustainable development of communities. Some alternatives, such as chicken breeding and cassava flour production, are already being implemented in some communities.
So far, there has been little government action to address the health issues the Munduruku people face. Instead, Indigenous organizations point out that primary health care for Indigenous peoples in the region has declined in recent years. In April, Munduruku leaders sent a letter to the federal government demanding actions to provide health assistance to their people, including measures to combat mercury contamination, malaria, food insecurity and lack of drinking water.
Below are nine key points from our reporting.
1. The operation to remove illegal miners from Munduruku Indigenous territories has, so far, led to a reduction in mining activities.
Since the start of the operation in November 2024, government agents have carried out more than 523 raids, destroying 90 camps, 15 vessels, 27 units of heavy machinery, and 224 motorized pumps. In total, the coordinated government effort caused losses of 112.3 million Brazilian reais ($20 million) to the criminal groups. Authorities tracked more than 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of illegal mines and 21 clandestine airstrips.
2. Indigenous residents remain fearful that mining will resume once security forces withdraw.
Despite the disruption to the illegal mining, several Munduruku Indigenous organizations told Mongabay the operation had not yet been completely effective, as invaders and their machinery are still present in some areas. Indigenous residents and organizations say they’re worried the miners will return once security forces withdraw — a scenario that has played out elsewhere. Conservationists say they worry the miners will move into other protected areas, like Amanã National Forest or Tapajós Environmental Protection Area; the former is already suffering a wave of illegal mining and deforestation.
A leader of the federal task force carrying out the operation told Mongabay that the second phase of the operation involves the implementation of a maintenance plan, which includes protecting, monitoring and caring for the land. As part of this plan, the National Public Security Force and Funai, the Indigenous affairs agency, will remain in the region to carry out patrols, while other agencies carry out inspection and control actions to ensure the miners don’t return.
3. The operation is focused in two areas: Munduruku Indigenous Territory and Sai-Cinza Indigenous Territory.
Public forces targeted Sai-Cinza and Munduruku, which form a continuous area larger than Belize and are home to 11,000 Indigenous people. Located in the municipalities of Jacareacanga and Itaituba municipalities, known as the epicenter of illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon, both territories have a historical presence of illegal gold miners.
4. The illegal mines are run by criminal groups, businesspeople and Indigenous individuals looking to increase their income, combat food security or just get rich quick.
Although reports point to certain criminal groups, such as Boi na Brasa, or BNB, researchers say many groups and people organize and finance operations from outside the territories. Networks of people, such as traders and businesspeople, finance the distribution of weapons and machinery to keep the mining active. One researcher described it to Mongabay as “an entire ecosystem.”
Sources say Indigenous miners make up a minority, and most of the Indigenous population denounce the invasion of their lands by outsiders. They’ve filed complaints with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. Federal agents told Mongabay that they also received support from Indigenous people during the crackdown.
5. Logistics, such as how to access remote mining sites, were one of the greatest challenges the federal task force carrying out the eviction operation faced, as well as the recruitment of Indigenous peoples by criminals.
The remoteness of the area complicated government efforts to stop the illegal miners, as access required the use of helicopters, which can’t fly in bad weather. Federal officials said another challenge was the recruitment of Munduruku individuals by criminals to secure access to lands and gain support against the government crackdown.
6. Observers warn that without a plan after the eviction that guarantees food security and promotes sources of decent income and sustainable alternatives for the region, Indigenous people with no alternative incomes can be exploited and go back into mining.
After eviction operations, it’s common to see illegal miners return to the same area or nearby because the activity is so profitable. In addition, many miners have limited access to alternative livelihoods, there’s often a weak law enforcement presence in remote areas, and corruption is rampant. Researchers say an understanding that eviction efforts are temporary is another reason miners feel they can resume once the pressure subsides.
Munduruku sources told Mongabay that deception, abandonment by the state, and a lack of alternative income sources are what push people to mine. As part of the eviction operation, researchers and federal agents warned there needs to be a recovery plan to ensure Indigenous people involved in mining have other options. To encourage people away from illegal mining, Indigenous people and NGOs are trying to support alternative income options in the Munduruku lands, such as developing cassava flour businesses, boosting free-range chicken farming, and supporting community handicrafts. Communities have also been pondering a carbon credit project, but this has divided local leaders. While some see carbon credits as a promising economic alternative, others have denounced the approaches of carbon credit companies.
7. Researchers say federal agents should combine evictions with financial investigations to find out who’s bankrolling the illegal mining and who benefits, to more effectively tackle the problem.
Researchers said the arrest or displacement of low-level miners, who may themselves be victims of human trafficking and forced labor, doesn’t always disrupt illegal mining networks. Failure to target those behind the operations could mean that criminals simply migrate from one Indigenous territory to another after federal raids. If operations are disrupted in one region, garimpeiros may relocate to another. Federal agents told Mongabay that the second phase of the eviction operation in the Munduruku Indigenous Territory involves the implementation of a maintenance plan, which calls for more patrol and inspection actions to ensure the miners don’t return.
8. The use of mercury by the miners has caused widespread harm to biodiversity and human health.
Research has shown that Munduruku people living near mining sites have blood mercury levels exceeding the safe limit. Between January and October 2024, 381 cases of mercury exposure were recorded in the Munduruku and Sawré Muybu Indigenous territories.
Mercury contamination impacts the central nervous system and causes brain damage and deformities. Bacteria at the bottom of the rivers transform mercury into methylmercury, its organic form, which is then absorbed into the food chain. The large fish that many Munduruku catch and eat carry the highest concentrations of mercury, as the heavy metal bioaccumulates and biomagnifies up the food chain. Affected species include black piranha (Serrasalmus rhombeus), peacock bass (Cichla ocellaris) and piraíba (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum).
9. There has been little government action to address health issues in the aftermath of the destruction wrought by gold mining, Indigenous leaders and experts say.
Munduruku people have reported an increase in diseases, contamination from mercury ingested from fish, food insecurity, and lack of drinking water. Despite the crackdown on illegal mining in the territory, health impacts among Munduruku people have received little attention, community leaders and organizations say.
Unlike in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, where the government made health a top priority, Munduruku people complain that there are few actions focused on health amid the operation to remove invaders from their land — an issue going back several years.
In April, Munduruku leaders sent a letter to the federal agency responsible for Indigenous health issues. The letter included a detailed list of demands, including more funding to set up appropriate structures to provide assistance in the region, and measures to combat mercury contamination, malaria, food insecurity and lack of drinking water.
This May, authorities including the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples launched a technical manual for the care of Indigenous individuals exposed to mercury in Brazil. The aim, according to a researcher involved, is to provide guidance for appropriate treatment, given the lack of an established service network in place to cater to Indigenous peoples and the lack of knowledge among both health workers and patients.
Banner image: Illegal gold mining inside the Munduruku and Sai Cinza Indigenous Lands, Pará state, Brazil. If mining is allowed to continue at current rates, or if increased with passage of bill PL 191/2020, Amazon Indigenous communities and culture could be destroyed. Image by Chico Batata / Greenpeace (Oct, 2021).
Brazil’s crackdown on illegal mining in Munduruku Indigenous land sees success, but fears remain
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