Gold mining licensing disputes in Brazil

Legal and regulatory challenges regarding gold mining operations in the Brazilian Amazon have emerged in different regions.

In the Volta Grande do Xingu region of Pará, the National Indigenous Peoples Foundation (Funai) has requested the suspension or annulment of the installation license for the Belo Sun open-pit gold mining project. Funai argues that environmental impact studies failed to account for several indigenous communities and ignored cumulative impacts from other regional projects, such as the Ouro Verde tailings dam. Belo Sun maintains it is in dialogue with the agency and has addressed cumulative effects through judicial channels.

In Amazonas, the Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF-1) ordered the reinstatement of six gold mining licenses for dredging in the Rio Madeira. The court ruled that the period of previous judicial suspensions should not count toward the licenses' total validity. While the cooperatives are authorized to resume operations, they must adhere to 22 environmental conditions to mitigate high pollution and degradation risks, including prohibitions on discharging contaminants and dredging near sensitive areas.