RIO DE JANEIRO – The Brazilian government is pushing ahead with a controversial bill that allows mining activity on indigenous lands, and it won’t give local communities any veto power, a cabinet member said.

The private sector will naturally refrain from exploring in areas if indigenous groups are against it, Alexandre Vidigal, the mining secretary at the Energy Ministry, said Tuesday in an interview.

“It is obvious that if an indigenous community opposes a certain mining activity, there won’t be a entrepreneur interested in developing it,” he said on the sidelines of an event in Rio de Janeiro. He expects the government will conclude the text of the bill by the end of the month.

Proposals to explore resources on indigenous lands were stalled in Congress in recent years amid strong opposition in and outside of the country, but they have gained renewed momentum under President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration and a business-friendly legislature.

‘LYING MEDIA’

Bolsonaro has repeatedly criticized the size of territories occupied by indigenous groups, which account for 14% of Brazilian land. The former army captain argues that developing the Amazon’s natural resources could ramp-up economic growth and that indigenous people should integrate into modern society.

A nationwide poll from Datafolha Institute in June found 86% of Brazilians opposed mining exploration on indigenous lands. The government also has been heavily criticized for fires in the Amazon forest, which has been under pressure from cattle ranchers, loggers and miners.

“The Amazon is not being devastated or destroyed by fire, as the lying media claims,” the Brazilian president told the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

Brazil’s 1988 Constitution prohibits mining activity on indigenous lands without approval from Congress, which hasn’t ruled on the issue since. The law also says indigenous communities need to be consulted and share the benefits of any business activity on their lands.

Vidigal said some indigenous leaders have been informally consulted on the bill and should only be formally included in discussions when the proposal is sent to Congress. There is currently no decision on how tribes would be compensated, he said.

Brazil’s constitution doesn’t mention veto power for indigenous tribes, Vidigal said.