The hunger for gold in the Madeira River

“Fofoca”, the name given by the miners to the rafts lined up on a river, means “gossip, in Brazilian Portuguese language. And that is all it takes. Someone spreads a rumor of a gold discovery, in some corner of the Amazon, and dozens of dredging vessels will gather there in a flash. Along the Madeira River, they are everywhere, and for decades they have been part of an imaginary, even though few people realize that this activity actually is illegal. Extracting the coveted ore from the riverbeds without authorization is against the law in Brazil. Buying this gold should be forbidden, but it has been made for the precious metal to cross oceans to reach affluent consumers in Europe and North America. And this is far from being “fofoca”.

Por Francisco Costa, Bruno Kelly (fotos) e Barbara Arisi (Tradução)

Porto Velho (RO) – It is Sunday at one of these gossip (“fofoca”) sites on the Madeira River. The rafts are arranged one next to the other, forming an elongated platform where it is possible to walk from one end to the other. They are anchored and tied by steel cables and resistant ropes to prevent the force of the water, the current, or the rain from dragging everything down to the river depths. The miners use the day to make payments, count cash unceremoniously, enjoy a barbecue, drink beer, and listen to loud music. While the food is not ready, those who are late with their “work” take that morning to separate some gold from the mud or to clean their equipment for next week’s work. At the mine, the machines run day and night, spewing out a nauseating burning diesel smoke. You could barely smell the roasting meat.

Controlled by the “sarinho,” a wheel-shaped object with a large wooden crank, the eight-inch hose is thrown to the bottom of the Madeira River. It sucks up the muddy water, sediment, and, with luck, some precious particles. All this material and liquid passes through a conveyor belt, where there are velvety carpets that filter what it is being sucked and make it possible to retain small pieces of pure gold. It is at this stage that the miners pour mercury on the mats. The heavy metal serves to facilitate the separation of the residues and the visualization of golden sparks of the precious ore. Soon after, this same water, now contaminated with other substances, is returned to the river, but transformed into the highly toxic methylmercury.

The rafts are authentic floating houses, and entire families live in them. Maria Selma da Silva, a 56-year-old migrant from Ceará state (Brazilian Northeast region), lives in one of them together with her husband. The raft is their wooden house, on the lower floor the illegal gold extraction takes place while on the upper floor people live, like in any other family house. The structure has small rooms, a bathroom, and unpainted walls. There are individual places to sleep and eat, and a simple kitchen. Rustic, but impeccably clean. On hot days, the zinc roof heats up the place like a furnace.

At the time when the Amazônia Real reporter met the prospector, there were 26 other rafts in total, with an average of up to five people living in each one of them. Maria Selma is a “mandadora,” which in the mining jargon is the person who controls the operation. Her hands have already lost their softness; they have become calloused due to the heavy work. Her face shows signs of raging under the torrid sun, typical from the Northern region of Brazil. She takes care of everything, from extracting the gold to washing the clothes, cleaning the place, buying supplies, financial control, and maintaining the engine when her partner is unable to do so. Unlike in other rafts, she works only with her husband. She prefers not to hire more people, thus avoiding paying commissions, which fluctuate between 20% and 30% of the total profit. She regrets not having started mining during the last gold rush, in the 1980s, a time of rapid price rise in the ore market. In the following decade, the easily extractable gold deposits were already showing signs of decline.

The gold miner couple have to work all day long, as they take turns to earn about 3,000 reais (around 600 US$ dollars) per week. This is a fortune compared to the 1,302 reais (260 US dollars) that a person from the state of Rondônia earns as monthly minimum wage. Maria Selma says that all these years of hard work have not brought her any wealth. “When I started mining, it was already in the gold rush worst phase. I only have my raft and a single car. When I came to mine, I already had my house, right?” The activity allows her to spend three to six months floating on the Madeira River and the rest of the time in her other house on dry land.

Maria Selma’s “fortune” seems minuscule compared to the billionaire exports of Brazilian gold. In 2022, Brazil earned 4.9 billion US dollars from international gold trade. Gold exports increased from US$ 2.8 billion in 2018 to a record US$ 5.3 billion in 2021. Canada (US$1.65 billion), the United Kingdom (US$818 million), India (US$802 million), Switzerland (US$662 million), and the United Arab Emirates (US$443 million) were the top buyers of Brazilian gold.

The apogee of mining

_{Some 26 rafts of illegal gold mining are seen active and in a formation known as “fofoca” (gossip in a free translation) on the Madeira river, near the capital Porto Velho RO (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).}

Legends populate the miners’ imagination, with stories of people from all over the world making a fortune extracting gold from the Madeira River. Its first traces were found in 1826. However, the “Serra Pelada” (Naked Mountain) in the Madeira, as some refer to its apogee in reference to another historic gold mine that existed in Pará, is said to have started only in the 20th century, with intensified activities beginning in the 1970s. According to report from the National Mining Agency, which replaced the former National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM), there were over 1,200 miners in the riverbed in the following decade, producing 817 kilograms of the precious metal. However, searching for gold at the riverbed was much more dangerous four decades ago. Workers had to dive deep to position the suction tubes. Today, the process is much more automated.

Eider da Silva, 24-year-old, performs one of the most dangerous and rudimentary jobs at the mining, which is maintaining the water and sand suction hoses. These hoses are placed at depths of 20 or 30 meters in the riverbed, depending on the dry or flood period of the river. To perform this activity, the young man needs to dive into the dark and turbulent waters, which can even cost him his life. For Eider da Silva, the effort is worth it. Four months ago, he decided to take a chance in the Madeira River mines in search of money to “take a competitive exam to try to get a better job, to get prepared for it, to finish high school, and to pursue a career in the Army.” Last month, he started a monthly loan of 280 reais to buy a piece of land in the Amazon, where his lady partner is staying. It is there that he dreams of “building a simple house.”

In the “fofoca” (“gossip”) of the Madeira River, a worker who provides services to a boss can earn from 3,000 to 4,000 reais (US 595 to 795 dollars) per month. As in most economic activities, especially predatory ones, the owner of the business profits the most. Raimundo Alex, 33, belongs to the second generation of diggers in his family. His father took him to the riverbank when he was 13. Today, Alex manages three rafts and employs seven workers. His weekly income reaches 40 grams per week, equivalent to 45,000 reais per month. The expenses to sustain the illegality are high: 7,000 reais (US 1,390 dollars) for raft maintenance, the purchase of groceries, and diesel fuel. A 200-liter drum of fuel costs the equivalent of 4 or 5 grams of gold – in the mines, calculations are always based, not in reais or any other paper currency, but on the weight of the precious metal. About 15 drums of fuel are consumed per week.

“Garimpeiro (gold digger) is like any other person in town who is trying to make a living,” says Raimundo Alex. “People who think garimpeiros are criminals haven’t come here to see who the goldminers really are.” He claims that thanks to mining, he can “better support his family.” Since many people depend on the activity, even though it is illegal, Alex advocates for its legalisation to end their fear of inspections.

Dom Phillips, the British journalist killed on June 5, 2022, in the Javari Valley in the state of Amazon, was familiar with the reality of the Amazonian mines. He saw the “garimpeiros” (gold diggers) not only as villains but as “men desperate to support a family,” as he mentioned to his wife, Alessandra Sampaio. However, in a 2018 report for the English newspaper The Guardian, he warned about the risks of illegal mining: “Clearings are cut into forests, mining ponds carved into the earth, and mercury used in extraction is dumped into rivers, poisoning fish stocks and water sources.”

This Amazônia Real special report is the result of an effort by 16 media outlets from 10 countries, coordinated by Forbidden Stories, an international consortium of investigative journalists who pursue the work of journalists murdered or under threat. Dom Phillips lived in Rio de Janeiro but covered the Amazon region multiple times. In his reports, he expressed concern about the asymmetrical relations between different exploiters of the Amazon forest, such as the imbalance between illegal mining and mining by large multinationals. In March, the agency, accompanied by a team of journalists from Portugal’s Expresso, visited the Madeira River to report on this historic struggle for gold.

Law and order

Around 26 illegal gold mining rafts are seen in activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", on the Madeira River, near the capital Porto Velho, in Rondônia, northern Brazil (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real/March 2023).
Around 26 illegal gold mining rafts are seen in activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", on the Madeira River, near the capital Porto Velho, in Rondônia, northern Brazil (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real/March 2023).
Around 26 illegal gold mining rafts are seen in activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", on the Madeira River, near the capital Porto Velho, in Rondônia, northern Brazil (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real/March 2023).
Around 26 illegal gold mining rafts are seen in activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", on the Madeira River, near the capital Porto Velho, in Rondônia, northern Brazil (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real/March 2023).
Illegal gold miners doing the "carpet beating" work in one of the approximately 26 rafts of illegal gold mining that are in full activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", in the Madeira River (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Illegal gold miners doing the "carpet beating" work in one of the approximately 26 rafts of illegal gold mining that are in full activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", in the Madeira River (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Garimpeiros enjoy their Sunday off in one of the approximately 26 rafts of illegal gold mining that are in full activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", (gossip in a free translation) on the Madeira River (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Gold extracted by miner and raft owner Selma with her husband Lenito, after four "mandandas" (work shifts of 30 hours each) on one of the approximately 26 rafts of illegal gold mining ( Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Garimpeiro (illegal miner) and raft owner, Raimundo Alex shows about 4 grams of gold he managed to remove from the bottom of the Madeira River, near the capital Porto Velho (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real.)
Garimpeiro working on one of the approximately 26 illegal gold mining rafts that are in full activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", on the Madeira River, near the capital Porto Velho (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Garimpeiros working on one of the approximately 26 illegal gold mining rafts that are in full activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", on the Madeira River, near the capital Porto Velho (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Garimpeiros take advantage of their Sunday off to get a haircut and shave in one of the approximately 26 rafts of illegal gold mining that are in full activity and in a formation known as "fofoca" (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
A young illegal gold miner working on one of the approximately 26 illegal gold mining rafts that are in full swing and in a formation known as "fofoca", on the Madeira Rive (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Garimpeiros (illegal miners) enjoy their Sunday off in one of the approximately 26 rafts of illegal gold mining that are in full activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", (gossip in a free translation)( Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Garimpeira enjoys Sunday off on one of the approximately 26 illegal gold mining rafts that are in full swing, known as "gossip", on the Madeira River, near Porto Velho (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Garimpeiros (illegal miners) enjoy their Sunday off in one of the approximately 26 rafts of illegal gold mining that are in full activity and in a formation known as "fofoca", (gossip in a free translation)( Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).
Young miners working on one of the approximately 26 illegal gold mining rafts that are in full swing, known as "gossip", on the Madeira River, near Porto Velho (Photo: Bruno Kelly/ Amazônia Real).

In October 2022, a joint environmental operation by the Federal Police (PF) and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) targeted illegal gold miners on the Madeira River in Rondônia. The operation, called Operation Lex Et Ordo (“law and order”), resulted in the destruction of 121 rafts and dredges. This operation, which took place during the government of Jair Bolsonaro, sparked anger among the miners, leading them to close access to the BR-319 highway, one of the main international harbour routes in Porto Velho. Maria Selma da Silva, whose raft was destroyed too, estimated the damage to be almost 200,000 reais (around US 40,000 dollars). For the first time, she considered stopping her mining activity. The dredges are larger vessels that suction the riverbed, can cost up to 2 million reais (around 400 thousand dollars), and some of them were also destroyed.

Maria Selma expresses her anxiety when people talk about the police, as it affects her psychologically. As a mother of three children, she does not want the next generation of her family to become “gold miners”. She intends to leave the mining activity because working under persecution is difficult, especially for those who try to live “honestly”. She feels hunted, judged, and labeled as a bandit and thief. However, for the time being, she has to continue mining.

Maria Selma, who voted for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the last Brazil election, is aware of the federal government’s crackdown on illegal mining. She would like to invite President Lula to visit her raft and urges him to analyse the situation of the gold miners. She believes many miners are family men who lacked educational opportunities.

In Brazil, garimpeiros and miners know that they can find politicians willing to support their cause. In January 2021, the Rondônia government issued Decree-Law 25,780, which regulated mining in the state’s rivers and revoked a previous decree (5,197/1991) that prohibited mineral extraction in the Madeira River from Cachoeira Santo Antônio to the interstate border with Amazonas.

Governor Coronel Marcos Rocha (União Brasil Party), an ally of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, celebrated the decree, stating that families had suffered for decades waiting for such regulation. However, seven months later, the Court of Justice of Rondônia deemed the decree unconstitutional.

The state’s pro-garimpo decree even included the legalisation of mercury use. Recognising that this legislation would undermine the protection of environmental and landscape rights, the State Public Ministry challenged its constitutionality, as it contradicted Brazil’s international commitment to respect the Minamata Convention, which aims to ban the use of mercury worldwide. The Environmental Development Secretary of Rondônia, Marco Antônio Ribeiro de Menezes Lagos, confirmed that the Judiciary has already banned the use of mercury, and the state will comply with it. His agency issues environmental licenses and certificates.

Currently, ferries and dredges can operate with authorization from the federal government in the Upper Madeira River, specifically in the 79-kilometer stretch from the Santo Antônio hydroelectric plant to the mouth of the Jamary River, outside the Environmental Protection Area according to Ibama. This extension corresponds to less than 6% of the total Madeira River and is not the preferred mining area. Menezes Lagos assures that the state government prohibits river mining and illegal fishing and takes action when violations occur. If seized rafts and dredges cannot be kept through a social project, they are destroyed. According to him, the Madeira River today serves as a transportation route for exporting the valuable Brazilian soy.

The toxic mercury

_{Illegal gold miner Selma guards the mercury extracted from the process of the equipment called Cadinho (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).}

The extraction of alluvial gold, which is found in rivers, has a detrimental impact on nature. The Amazon Water Impact Index (IIAA), published in May 2022, revealed that one-fifth of the 2,299 micro-watersheds in the Amazon were affected by gold mining. In the case of the turbid and muddy waters of the Madeira River, 421 out of 1,274 micro-basins (33%) were significantly impacted, with 65 experiencing extreme impact (5%), 177 very high impact (14%), and 179 high impact (14%). However, mining accounts for only 40% (506 watersheds) of the total, ranking third among activities pressuring the environment, behind farming and cattle raising (1,093 watersheds or 86%) — which contribute pesticides and waste into the river—and forest degradation (522 watersheds or 41%). The IIAA is part of the Aquazônia project developed by Ambiental Media and Instituto Serrapilheira.

The current practices of mining on the Madeira River disregard the environmental consequences. Miners engage in activities such as deforestation, river silting, soil erosion, and habitat destruction for forest animals. They seem to believe that the river’s vastness will carry away the pollution they continuously discharge, poisoning fish and other aquatic species.

Dr. Wanderley Bastos, a professor and researcher at the Federal University of Rondônia (Unir), leads a biogeochemical environmental research group that examines the extent of mercury contamination in fish, plants, water, and the populations inhabiting isolated communities. Metallic mercury used in mining forms an amalgam with gold, acting as a magnet that separates other components like soil, sand, sediments, dirt, gravel, and organic mixtures.

The resulting silver liquid contaminates the atmosphere when it undergoes the burning process in a stainless steel crucible, a handmade distiller. Although the crucible does not smelt the gold, it agglomerates the metal particles into a block. However, burning the amalgam without proper environmental control is common in gold separation. With the heat, the metal vaporizes and spreads in the air. The released mercury then transforms into its most toxic chemical form, methylmercury, contaminating the food chain. Fish at the top of the food chain, which feed on smaller fish, have much higher concentrations of methylmercury. Ingesting or inhaling large amounts of mercury can result in severe neurological consequences, including tremors, insomnia, memory loss, headaches, muscle weakness, and, in extreme cases, death.

The quarterly monitoring conducted by Dr. Wanderley Bastos’ research group has confirmed that mercury contamination in the water of the Madeira River remains below the tolerated level of 200 nanograms per liter, with levels around 10 nanograms per liter. However, in other illegal mines in the Amazon, the situation is dire. Uncontrolled mercury use in these mines has devastated life in the Tapajós River, particularly in the municipalities of Itaituba and Trairão in Pará. Research conducted by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Fiocruz, in collaboration with the Munduruku indigenous people, revealed that six out of ten participants had mercury levels above safe limits. One in five indigenous children exhibited neurodevelopmental problems. The contamination extends to fish, the main source of protein for the Munduruku people. The analysis showed that all 88 fish from 18 different species were contaminated with mercury levels 4 to 18 times higher than the safe limits recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Despite existing regulations on mercury use, the substance is still traded on the black market. Industries such as electronics and chlorine rely heavily on mercury sulfide, which is used in battery galvanizing, gold and silver amalgam treatment, and metal recovery.

The Puruzinho community in Humaitá, located on the Lower Madeira River near the Amazon River, is one of the severely affected communities, unaware of the dangers they are exposed to. Dr Bastos’ reports indicate that hair samples from residents collected over 20 years ago showed high levels of methylmercury. The World Health Organization (WHO) sets the maximum value for methylmercury in humans at six micrograms per gram or six parts per million, but Bastos found values as high as 160 parts per million.

Efforts are underway to find alternatives to mercury. One promising alternative could be the use of the “pau-de-balsa” tree (Ochroma pyramidale), an abundant Amazonian tree species that has shown potential for separating gold from mud without causing environmental damage. The plant is being cultivated in Unir’s garden, and studies supported by the Foundation for the Development of Scientific and Technological Actions and Research of the State of Rondônia (AMPARO, in its Brazilian acronym) have demonstrated its effectiveness. The “pau-de-balsa” tree has already been used as a substitute for mercury in some regions, particularly in Colômbia. The study is still in its early stages but has gained support from a cooperative of gold miners.

Lobby for legalisation

_{The illegal gold miner, Lenito uses the equipment known as “Cadinho”, to separate the mercury from the gold extracted from the riverbed (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real)}

Councilman Marcelo Reis, from Porto Velho, holds a contrasting viewpoint and argues that the crucible used in gold mining with mercury is not polluting. He claims that all the heavy metal is reused and that mercury is no longer a problem for those working legally. According to Reis, miners use the required crucible as specified by cooperatives. “Mercury is no longer a problem for those who work legally.”

Marcelo Reis, who was a mining entrepreneur himself from the age of 17 to 33, has had rafts operating on the Madeira River and is connected to a network of over 200 miners through a WhatsApp messaging group. Everyday, they exchange information, including warnings about inspections. Reis’s survey indicates that more than 6,000 direct and indirect workers operate on rafts, generating an estimated monthly income of around 60 million reais in Porto Velho. Some of these resources circulate around Rua do Ouro (Gold Street) in the city’s central region, where several establishments trade jewelry and buy and sell kilograms of gold, gold bars, and manufactured products.

From there, the precious metal embarks on its journey to other markets, including international ones. In Rondônia, the gold laundering process follows a similar pattern to other Brazilian states. Through intermediaries who buy gold directly from miners, the product is sold to a Distributor of Securities (DTVM, in its Brazilian acronym), who issues an invoice declaring the gold’s legal origin, indicating that it was extracted from a legally permitted mining site — referred to as Mining Permissions authorised by the Brazilian National Mining Agency (ANM). In the case of the Madeira River, it is sufficient to mention that the gold was extracted from one of the permitted stretches among the 79 authorised kilometers.

The federal government changed the rules for buying, selling, and transporting gold through a provisional measure, putting an end to the so-called “presumption of good faith.” In early April, the Federal Supreme Court had already suspended this practice widely used to “legalize” gold extracted from illegal mines for export to other countries.

Councilman Marcelo Reis denies that garimpo operators engage in tax evasion. He questions why gold mining does not generate taxation for the municipality, state, and federal government. He provokes by asking which legal representation sought to establish controls on the commercialization of gold, either through a state-issued note or by ensuring the activity’s legality. Reis believes that the solution lies in legalizing the activity to maintain employment, stabilize per capita income for families, prevent the exodus of people from the Lower Madeira River region to cities, and generate tax revenue for the municipality and state.

Marcelo Reis is also a journalist and hosts a popular lunchtime police program for an SBT TV channel affiliate (TV Allamanda), a network he administers. He is an advocate pro mining, both on and off-camera. Reis claims that the operating licenses for the “fofocas”, a type of raft used in gold mining, were suspended through a state decree in 2015. According to the councilman, garimpeiros, fearing inspections, have been trading gold in neighbouring Bolivia.

Fighting the destroyers

_{Federal Public Prosecutor, Tatiana de Noronha Versiani, in Porto Velho, Rondônia, northern Brazil( Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).}

According to the Federal Public Ministry, the major issue lies in illegal mining within the protected area of the Madeira River. Federal Public Prosecutor Tatiana Noronha Versiani highlights that there are recognised, authorised, and monitored mines by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and the National Mining Agency. These legal mining operations even include provisions for “environmental remediation” when they were consider to be necessary. However, none of these regulations are followed in clandestine gold extraction. In practice, there is an internal chain of exploitation involving large owners of rafts, dredges, and hydraulic excavators who take advantage of the economic vulnerability of many small scale gold miners.

By the middle of the previous year, the Federal Public Ministry had identified around 800 rafts operating illegally on the Madeira River. Besides monitoring environmental crimes, the institution also strives to combat the criminal activities associated with mining, such as mercury trading, the use of clandestine landing strips for gold transportation, and sexual exploitation in the mines. Tatiana Versiani acknowledges that in the realm of illegality, money laundering occurs, and the illicit funds are reintegrated into the economic circuit in an attempt to mask their origin, so that it can be easier to export this gold. It is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon.

The intelligence service of the Federal Police in Rondônia relies on satellite mapping, information provided by the environmental police and IBAMA, and data from Federal offices in other countries before initiating field operations. However, surveillance operations on the Madeira River are very challenging, due to its transboundary position. Insufficient infrastructure, including a lack of personnel, boats, and helicopters, further hinders their police efforts. As a result, the Federal Police concentrates its investigations on the major players who control the top of the illegal gold exploitation chain and possess significant financial power. This situation creates a loophole for small and medium-sized gold miners to continue forming “fofocas” (“gossip” rafts) along the Madeira River.

“The objective of the Federal Police is to block and bring to justice these criminal organisations that have the greatest economic power and, in doing so, discourage people from engaging in this type of activity as small-scale miners. By severing a link in the ore’s commercialisation, we aim to inhibit its further exploitation,” explains the Federal Police officer Thiago Peixe. One of the main investigations revolves around gold trafficking, which involves “heating” the gold within Brazil through the production of falsified documents to legalize and export the product. Regardless, the delegate assures that the police forces are actively working on combating illegal mining from multiple angles.

Resistance and struggle

_{A couple living in the riverside community of São Carlos, Leonor Pereira da Silva, known as Noca, with her husband, Ariowilson Domingos da Vilva, 72, at their home (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).}

The district of São Carlos in Rondônia, home to nearly 3,000 residents, is facing numerous challenges and a sense of abandonment by public authorities. The community, primarily composed of fishermen, is struggling with issues such as waste management, damaged infrastructure, poor telecommunication services, and limited access to healthcare. In emergency situations, improvisation is necessary, such as using boats as makeshift ambulances to reach the capital city of Porto Velho, which takes about an hour. The younger generation also lacks better future perspectives. The construction of hydroelectric dams, namely Santo Antônio and Jirau, on the Madeira River has led to a reduction in fishing and subsequently pushed many residents toward mining as a sole alternative for survival.

The Madeira River, one of Brazil’s largest rivers and an Amazon River major tributary, . It has the fifth largest hydrographic basin on the planet with a length of over 3,000 kilometres and 125 million hectares of water. It boasts a vast ecosystem . The sport fishing lovers granted it the nickname “river of monsters”, praising the huge size of the fish that live in its waters. More than 60% of the animal species described in the Amazon basin have been found in it. It is a river that originates in Bolivia, where it is called the Beni, on the slopes of the Andes, it enters Brazil and crosses the state of Rondônia where it receives the name Madeira, and flows into the central part of Amazonas, between the municipalities of Autazes and municipalities of Autazes and Itacoatiara. The waterway moves 10 million tons of products per year, and is one of the main logistics axes in the North region of the country.

During the winter in 2014, São Carlos community had its village flooded by the Madeira River. Torrential rains, exacerbated by the flow provoked by the hydroelectric plants, caused their houses to float away, to get flooded or being partially destructed. Some families resorted to anchoring their boats near their homes to prevent looting, enduring a period of 15 to 30 days living in such conditions. The marks left on electricity poles and walls serve as a reminder of the devastation caused by the flood.

The student Ruan Silva, 24 years old, has memories of that period. Former gold miner who now works in providing technical assistance for the only internet company in the area, His feelings represent the ambiguous sentiments of the population in relation to mining. While he acknowledges its negative impacts, such as the reduction of the river’s channel and the formation of sandbanks that affect neighbouring banana tree farms. On the other hand, he explains, it is the engine of the local economy. “It’s the garimpo that sustains the market, the shops, the bars. Now, after the village has come to a standstill. It doesn’t have the kind of movement that it had before. Money has become a bit scarce here”.

Berenice Simão, an educator and researcher who moved to São Carlos three years ago, expresses deep concerns about mining. She highlights issues such as river pollution, the generation of waste from dredges and rafts, as well as the negative social effects, including prostitution, drug use, and violence.

An educator for over 20 years, Berenice Simão moved to São Carlos about three years ago. A PhD holder and researcher, she says that the district is formed basically by people originally from other towns and states in search of the Eldorado of the of the Madeira River, many of them coming from the Amazon state. For her, “garimpo” (gold mining) is a great nightmare. She cites the pollution of the river, the generation of rubbish in the dredges and rafts, among the main problems. “But what hurts most about its consequences are prostitution, the use of drugs and violence”, she says.

Berenice recounts instances where students mentioned carrying guns for self-protection while working in the mines. Desperate for work and lacking opportunities for higher education, many young individuals are drawn to mining. One day, a student told her: “Teacher, there is no other way. While gold mining, I have to be armed, otherwise I may not survive”. Those who cannot find work and higher education opportunities are recruited to the gold mining. “Two years ago, female students dropped out of high school to accompany their husbands, all young men, also in the gold mining”.

Prostitution is another issue covered up at the Madeira River. “Another teacher felt that the his students were very sleepy in class. He followed them to find out that they were going out in floating bars, where sex work is also offered. They were young men and even boys.” These are bars built on boat houses that transit the Madeira River and hide in some space further into the forest.

Berenice reconstitutes the historical and social facts that have turbinated river gold mining in recent years. The construction of the hydroelectric dams initially sparked expectations of social and environmental investments through the royalties worth of millions of reais paid to the city of Porto Velho and the state government. This led to an influx of migrants from the Amazon region to Rondônia, but the anticipated prosperity remained largely on paper, while mining operations became a major source of employment for many families.

In May of this year, the Rondônia Public Ministry encountered a 15-year-old adolescent working on an illegal gold mine. The teenager had dropped out of school and was found in a dredge under unhealthy and degrading conditions, including evidence of being trapped in debt to purchase basic items and food. After the intervention of the Protection of Young and Children’s Council, the adolescent was returned to their parents, and the raft owner responsible for their exploitation will be held accountable for child labor analogous to slavery.

The situation in São Carlos underscores the complex challenges faced by the community, including environmental degradation, social issues, and economic dependency on mining, necessitating comprehensive efforts to address these issues and provide sustainable alternatives for livelihoods.

Sickened populations

_{Mother and daughter activists, Neidinha Suruí and Txai Suruí at the headquarters of the organization Kanindé in Porto Velho, Rondônia, northern Brazil (Photo: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real).}

Neidinha Surui, an activist with over 50 years of experience, has dedicated her life to protecting the traditional and native peoples of Rondônia. Her work in the Association for the Ethnoenvironmental Defense Kanindé, a non-governmental organization that acts as a resistance front against the expansion of agribusiness on indigenous lands and on other protection areas such as extractive reserves, and “quilombos” (territories of descendants of black people who escaped slavery in the colonial times). Kanindé’s work aims to prevent the theft of wood, the invasion of native territories, and illegal mining. Neidinha is critical of President Lula, expressing disappointment that not much has changed in his new government even after 100 days. She is deeply concerned about the increasing environmental tragedies caused by climate change and emphasises that environmental protection is a matter of public health and the survival of humanity as a whole. She warns of the imminent water scarcity crisis, which is already occurring in some places, and emphasises the urgency of addressing the climate emergency. “You can’t have life on a planet if you don’t conserve your environment.” If you don’t guarantee it, we are going to have soon a war for water, which is already happening in some places. We are living in a climate emergency.”

On the Madeira River, the water that guarantees the sustenance and survival of innumerable peoples suffers the threats of illegal mining, agribusiness and forest degradation. “Imagine the people who survive on fishing and need that fish, and the fish will be sickened by mercury. We need to rethink the way we develop the Amazon”, she says.Neidinha Surui, who warns that Rondonia is the second state with the most cancer levels in the country. ”It cannot be called economic development what causes illness, what makes people sick, what increases people, which increases the volume of people undergoing cancer treatment. And then you have an entire population sickened, an entire biome is sick.”

Txai Surui, the daughter of Neidinha and Chief Almir Surui of the Paiter Surui people, has also inherited the activism from her parents. She gained international attention when she spoke at the opening of COP26, the UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change, in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021. As a representative of the Guardiões da Floresta (Forest Guardians), an alliance of communities protecting tropical forests worldwide, Txai made a powerful statement to global leaders, urging them to stop making empty promises and take concrete actions for a livable future.

To Amazônia Real, the young leader calls for the importance of considering the “ancestral and original perspectives” when seeking solutions for the Amazon forest, given that indigenous communities have inhabited the region for at least six thousand years, long before colonizers of all kinds arrived with the intention of depleting the natural resources.. “But then I keep thinking when will Iara, who are white people, switch on? When there is no more river, when they kill all the rivers. The river is sacred to us because water brings life, water that we drink”, she affirms. “We keep on destroying it! So I wonder how much they (society) will realise when there’s really no turning back? And I know one thing: nature will still be here.”

* This journalistic investigation project was supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

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The hunger for gold in the Madeira River

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