The highway BR 230 penetrates the Amazonian rain forest, starting from the eastern tip of Brazil. Along this muddy, mostly unpaved road lives one tenth of the Brazilian population and the amount is growing faster than in other parts of the country. BR 230 was intended as a modern highway but was left unfinished in 1972 and free for exploitation. In 1979, the biggest gold rush began in the Brazilian Amazon and has continued unabated ever since. Amazon’s gold rush has flourished, involving hundreds of thousands of miners in an informal industry which produces over a billion dollars’ worth of gold annually. Business has been changed in the 21st century by mining companies and governments the who have privatized the land. Informal miners, who started to work independently after the dictatorship had fallen, have started to lose their livelihood for corporations, who have the requirements, effective machines and political power to control Amazon’s most valuable goods. “New” mines are sold back to transnational corporations in the wave of economic liberalization undertaken by the Amazonian nations. As the price of the gold has risen when the investors have turned to commodity trade, illegal mining in Amazon has become tempting for many small-scale operators. The artisanal mining pollutes the air and river with mercury which is used for extracting gold. Mercury enters the food chain and travels far from the region.
BR 230 | Last Frontier | Illegal gold mines
BR 230 | Last Frontier | Illegal gold mines
The highway BR 230 penetrates the Amazonian rain forest, starting from the eastern tip of Brazil. Along this muddy, mostly unpaved road lives one tenth of the Brazilian population and the amount is growing faster than in other parts of the country. BR 230 was intended as a modern highway but was left unfinished in 1972 and free for exploitation. In 1979, the biggest gold rush began in the Brazilian Amazon and has continued unabated ever since. Amazon’s gold rush has flourished, involving hundreds of thousands of miners in an informal industry which produces over a billion dollars’ worth of gold annually. Business has been changed in the 21st century by mining companies and governments the who have privatized the land. Informal miners, who started to work independently after the dictatorship had fallen, have started to lose their livelihood for corporations, who have the requirements, effective machines and political power to control Amazon’s most valuable goods. “New” mines are sold back to transnational corporations in the wave of economic liberalization undertaken by the Amazonian nations. As the price of the gold has risen when the investors have turned to commodity trade, illegal mining in Amazon has become tempting for many small-scale operators. The artisanal mining pollutes the air and river with mercury which is used for extracting gold. Mercury enters the food chain and travels far from the region.
