Mining firms ‘illegally’ targeting indigenous lands in Brazil

Major mining companies have been seeking to expand to currently protected indigenous lands in the Amazon rainforest, bolstered by billions of dollars in financing from international banks and investment firms.

Nine mining giants including Brazil's Vale, Britain's Anglo American and Canada's Belo Sun filed applications seeking authorisation to mine on indigenous reservations in Brazil even though that is currently illegal, said a report released on Tuesday by the environmental group Amazon Watch and the Association of Brazil's Indigenous Peoples (APIB).

The firms appear to be betting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has pushed to open protected lands to mining and agribusiness, will succeed in passing legislation introduced by his government that would allow them to operate on indigenous territories, it said.

As of November, the companies had a total of 225 active mining applications to Brazil's National Mining Agency (ANM) that overlap 34 indigenous lands, for a total area more than three times the size of London, it said.

"The environmental damages and threats against the lives of forest peoples by mining activities are brutal and have only worsened under Bolsonaro's administration," Ana Paula Vargas, Brazil program director at Amazon Watch, said in a statement.

"With the rainforest at the tipping point of ecological collapse, we need to involve all the actors behind this industry."

Experts say preserving indigenous lands is among the best ways to protect the world's biggest rainforest, a vital resource in the race to curb climate change.

READ MORE: Officials: Clash looms between Brazil's indigenous people and miners

‘History of rights violations’

The report found the mining firms, which also included Glencore, AngloGold Ashanti, Rio Tinto, Potassio do Brasil and Grupo Minsur, received a total of $54.1 billion in financing from international investors over the past five years for their Brazilian operations.

It urged banks and financial firms backing such companies to pull out of them, saying many also had a history of human rights violations and environmental destruction.

Major backers of the nine mining companies include US firms BlackRock, Capital Group and Vanguard, which invested $14.8 billion in them over the past five years.

Banks including France's Credit Agricole, US-based Bank of America and Citigroup and Germany's Commerzbank are also major financiers of the companies, with a total of $2.7 billion in loans and underwriting.

Many of the companies denied the report's findings.

READ MORE: Brazil's Amazon rainforest under siege by illegal mines