Copper, lithium and nickel, among others, are raw materials used to produce electric vehicles, batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels. The Amazon holds part of these minerals, and large companies want to exploit it. Most mining applications are in Pará state, and some of them will have direct impact on areas located in Indigenous Lands and Conservation Units.

The plans of rich countries – especially China, the United States and the European Union – to curb global warming are based on some important keywords. One of them is the ‘energy transition,’ that is, replacing an energy model that uses fossil fuels such as oil and coal with a different one of fewer greenhouse gas emissions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in order to produce electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries and wind farms – which are crucial to this energy shift – the demand for minerals such as copper, lithium and nickel will increase fourfold by 2040 over 2020.

The Amazon holds part of these several minerals and is one of the places where large mining companies concentrate their efforts. An exclusive survey by InfoAmazonia based on mining procedures open at Brazil’s National Mining Agency (ANM) until May 24, 2024 found 5,046 applications filed by 807 companies to exploit ores considered essential for the energy transition in the Brazilian Amazon. The applications for copper, aluminum, manganese, niobium, silver, nickel, cobalt, rare earths: The set of 15 chemical elements made up of the lanthanide family plus yttrium are called Rare Earths. The elements are as follows: Light ones: lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium; Mediums: samarium, europium and gadolinium; Heavy: terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium and yttrium. They are used in neodymium magnets by the electric vehicle industry and in the construction of wind turbines and industrial automation. and lithium cover 64 million acres [26 million hectares] within the biome.

This race for mineral raw materials reveals a contradiction in the international ‘clean’ energy project: while countries like China and the US boost their production of electric vehicles and batteries, electricity barely reaches some parts of the Amazon. Furthermore, experts interviewed by InfoAmazonia are concerned about how this exploitation will be carried out without putting pressure on traditional populations and impacting the biome’s ecosystem.

“There is a lot of talk about how we are going to do well in this low-carbon economy but no clear policy on how this will actually happen. What are the safeguards? The main concern has to be how we are going to exploit these resources,” says Marta Salmon, senior analyst at the Talanoa Institute, a non-profit organization focused on climate policy.

There is a lot of talk about how we are going to do well in this low-carbon economy but no clear policy on how this will actually happen. What are the safeguards? The main concern has to be how we are going to exploit these resources.

Marta Salmon, senior analyst at the Talanoa Institute

At least 1,205 of the projects mapped by InfoAmazonia are within the area with direct impact on ​​137 indigenous lands (ILs) located up to 6.2 miles [10 km] from their boundaries. In 390 cases, mining areas invade these territories, which is banned by Brazil’s Constitution. The survey also found 1,207 applications that overlap 107 conservation units (CUs) in the Amazon.

The protected areas under the heaviest pressure are in Pará state. The indigenous lands include: the Xikrin Mebengôkre people’s Xikrin do Cateté IL, with 93 mining applications; the Kayapó, with 85; and the Munduruku people’s Sawré Muybu IL, with 77. As for conservation units, the National Forests (known as FLONAS) of Jamanxim, with 132 applications; Carajás, with 85; and Itaituba II, with 81 have the most applications for exploitation of energy transition ores. Pará concentrates more than half of all licensing procedures in the Amazon for these minerals, with 3,069 applications filed with the ANM to explore 36 million acres [14.6 million hectares] – an area larger than the entire territory of England.

Since the beginning of the Lula administration in 2023, the ANM has been reviewing mining applications that overlap indigenous territories. Last year, the agency denied more than 400 applications in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, but according to ANM’s own data, there are more than 2,000 licensing procedures overlapping indigenous lands.

In addition, recent pressure on large companies regarding mining in indigenous lands means that new projects in the Amazon will have to resort to areas outside the territories but close to their boundaries, which, according to experts, does not eliminate the impacts on these areas.

This is what happens in indigenous lands in southeastern Pará, virtually surrounded applications to mine copper and nickel. It also happens with applications for niobium in the surroundings of the Yanomami IL, where the Geological Survey of Brazil (SGB) indicates the existence of deposits near the boundary of the territory, where high-value minerals are concentrated.

Companies interested in exploiting minerals

Vale, Anglo American, Nexa, Codelco and Bemisa are among the 800-plus companies seeking energy transition minerals in the Amazon, including projects with potential impact on indigenous lands and located within conservation units.

ANM data shows that mining company Vale has filed 295 applications to exploit these metals in the Amazon biome. At least 139 of them overlap conservation units and 65 are in areas that potentially impact indigenous lands. At least 45 applications filed by Vale and its subsidiary Vale Metais Básicos are near the Xikrin do Cateté IL.

In April this year, the Onça Puma mine – one of Vale’s main nickel production projects, located around the Xikrin territory – had its Operating License suspended for not complying with environmental conditions imposed on the project. This is the fourth stoppage since 2011. The company appealed to Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) and a new conciliation meeting is scheduled for June 20, 2024. The mine, along with acquisitions in Canada, consolidated Vale as the world’s largest producer of nickel, which is essential for electric cars, batteries, wind farms and green hydrogen.

“After they started mining, the river became polluted, and it is still polluted,” said Chief Bep Kroroti Xicrin from the Djudjekô indigenous village, which is located on the banks of the Cateté River, in the western part of the Xikrin do Cateté IL, near the Onça Puma mine. The indigenous leader states that the culture of the communities has changed, with reduction in fish affecting their diet and health. “Our culture no longer uses the traditional timbó vine fishing, we no longer fish, we avoid the river. Vale doesn’t respect indigenous people,” he said.

After they started mining, the river became polluted, and it is still polluted.

Chief Bep Kroroti Xicrin from the Djudjekô indigenous village

Questioned by InfoAmazonia, Vale stated, in a note, that “it complies with the socio-environmental conditions and controls imposed on its activities in Pará as determined by legislation and respecting neighboring communities.” The company says it continues to adopt the appropriate measures to seek to reverse the decisions.

In the case of the Anglo American mining company, of the 737 applications to explore copper and nickel in the Amazon, 353 overlap Conservation Units and 178 are in areas that impact Indigenous Lands. Together with Nexa Recursos Minerais and Bemisa, the company applied for exploiting copper in 2.048.000 acres [829,000 hectares] of the Jamanxim National Florest – 63.7% of all the 3.2 million acres [1.3 million hectares] of the protected area of. The applications started to be filed in 2017, when there was a boom in the search for these minerals in the Amazon. 

In 2020, after being granted a license for copper exploration in the Sawré Muybu Indigenous Land, Anglo American faced indigenous protests that forced it to retreat. In the same year, a Federal Court in Pará suspended all applications for the Itaituba II National Forest, including Anglo’s. In 2021, the company formally requested ANM to withdraw applications in the Itaituba and Jamanxim National Forests and the Sawré Muybu IL, but some of them are still open and a license for exploration in the Jamanxim FLONA has been granted.

Some ANM decisions regarding Anglo’s withdrawal requests state that the applications will be shelved, and other companies may apply for the same areas in the future.

In the report, Anglo said that the ANM data “does not reflect the current situation” and that it is permanently working with the agency to have the database updated. The mining company states that “it does not have any license for exploitation on indigenous lands or primary forests in Brazil and that there are also no applications for nickel and copper within the Amazon biome.”

In 2023, Anglo transferred mining rights with a license for exploration in the Jamanxim National Forest and near the Apiaká do Pontal e Isolados IL to Bemisa Holding, controlled by banker Daniel Dantas. Bemisa has 90 mining projects in the Amazon for copper and nickel, with at least 10 applications overlapping the Jamanxim National Forest and five located within 6.2 miles [10 km] of the territory where the presence of isolated peoples has been recorded.

Nevertheless, Bemisa told InfoAmazonia in a note that “there is currently no prospect of a possible mineral asset operation in the Jamanxim National Forest or in the surrounding areas of the Apiaká do Pontal e Isolados IL.” The company says it adopts “environmental and social impact controls, with recognized operational excellence throughout Brazil.” However, in February this year, Bemisa announced it would resume exploration in one of the areas transferred by Anglo and which is entirely within the Jamanxim National Forest.

In 2017 and 2018, Nexa Resources filed 28 applications to mine copper in conservation units in the Amazon. Currently, the mining company has 33 open licensing procedures overlapping protected areas, some of which have had their applications withdrawn. Codelco do Brasil, a subsidiary of Chile-based Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, has 135 applications to mine it in the Amazon. At least 22 of them are in areas that impact indigenous lands. The company has requested the withdrawal of some of them.

To InfoAmazonia, ANM informed that it carries out checks to find whether mining applications in certain areas will interfere with indigenous lands. “If the mining area completely overlaps an indigenous land, the application is denied,” the agency said. In the case of partial overlaps, “the part that interferes is excluded, and the company can choose to continue with the rest of the area where there is no interference.”

Regarding the alleged delays in analyzing withdrawal requests mentioned by mining companies, the ANM stated that “sometimes, it is due to the fact that the ANM effectively and necessary verifies the legitimacy of the requesting party in asking for the application to be withdrawn.” The agency reported that it is looking for ways to speed up the procedures.

Mineral potential in protected forest areas

The SGB points to the existence of large deposits of copper, aluminum, nickel and rare earths in the Amazon. Occurrences of lithium and graphite have also been recorded in the biome. Furthermore, in 2023, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found potential in Brazil for mining lithium, nickel, manganese, neodymium and graphite to supply essential transition ores.