Vale drops prospects rights on indigenous lands in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian miner Vale has given up all rights to mining prospects on indigenous lands in Brazil, recognizing that they require the consent of the communities and legislation regulating such activity, the company said on Wednesday.
Vale said in a statement that since last year it has returned to the National Mining Agency 89 licences for mineral research and mining activities in lands that interfere with indigenous reservations.
In the coming days, the company will file withdrawals and waivers for 15 remaining mining prospects that overlap with part of the Xikrin do Cateté reservation in Para, the northern state where Vale, one of the largest global producers of iron ore, extracts much of its mineral.
Vale said prior consent was fundamental for the self-determination of indigenous people and the protection of their cultures and ways of life.
The company's decision came as Brazil's Supreme Court debates the constitutional validity of a cut-off date for indigenous land claims, which the government of President Jair Bolsonaro and farm sector have promoted in order to give farmers legal certainty in land disputes in the agricultural powerhouse.
Land not occupied by indigenous communities when Brazil passed its 1988 constitution has not been recognized as reservation land since 2016, based on a principle that the court has considered unconstitutional.
Indigenous people say land guarantees are vital for their survival and accuse Bolsonaro's right-wing government of trampling on their rights to allow commercial mining and agriculture on tribal lands in the Amazon and other parts of Brazil.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
For over 60 years, VEGA has provided industry-leading products for the measurement of level, density, weight and pressure. As the inventor of the...
VISIT SHOWROOM
ESAB South Arica, the leading supplier of high-end welding and cutting products to the Southern African industrial market is based in...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
