Brazil Claims Nearly Total Removal of Gold Miners from Amazon Yanomami Reservation, Reports Reuters

By Amanda Perobelli and Anthony Boadle

SURUCUCU, Brazil – Brazil has made significant strides in curbing the illegal gold rush that had drawn thousands of wildcat miners into the Yanomami reservation in the Amazon rainforest, leading to a humanitarian crisis characterized by disease and malnutrition, according to the head of the operations overseeing these efforts.

Nilton Tubino, who manages the government office established by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, reported in an interview that the Yanomami, the largest Indigenous group in South America that lives in relative isolation, have resumed a healthier way of life, engaging in agriculture and hunting.

Operatives from the police, military, environmental agencies, and health services have conducted hundreds of operations since March in the vast Yanomami reservation, which is comparable in size to Portugal and home to around 27,000 individuals. Tubino noted, "We are observing many members of the community bathing in rivers and hunting again, with clearings being cultivated for food."

Throughout these operations, military personnel have dismantled numerous illegal mining sites and prospects. They have taken down 42 clandestine airstrips, destroyed 18 aircraft, confiscated 92,000 liters of diesel fuel, sunk 45 dredging barges, eliminated 700 pumps, and decommissioned 90 satellite dishes that facilitated communication among miners regarding law enforcement patrols. In addition, a radar system has been deployed in the reservation to monitor unauthorized flights.

According to Tubino, casualties from malaria, a disease exacerbated by the miners’ presence, have decreased, and the government’s provision of food parcels has helped manage malnutrition. Medical outposts have been reopened with plans for a new hospital in Surucucu, a village near the Venezuelan border.

While a Reuters photographer in Surucucu recently captured evidence of lingering illegal mining activity, the overall situation has greatly improved compared to the previous year.

Junior Hekurari, the head of the Yanomami health council, indicated that, although the government has successfully evicted miners and mitigated the health crisis, mining activities have severely impacted the community’s food supply due to mercury contamination of river water. "The waters are poisoned and there are no fish," he lamented. "Our people believe the earth has been contaminated, affecting crop growth."

Shortly after taking office, Lula initiated a large-scale enforcement operation in February 2023 to expel around 25,000 gold miners from Yanomami territory. Supported by the military, this effort succeeded in removing approximately 80% of the miners.

However, when military forces pulled back, some miners returned, and new individuals joined those who had been hiding in the forest. Tubino mentioned that while the exact number of remaining miners is uncertain, recent operations have reduced their presence significantly and eliminated more than half of the prospecting areas.

He also emphasized that further efforts are necessary to dismantle the supply networks that sustain the miners, including their access to fuel, food, and the means to sell gold.