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In the latest edition of the Complicity in Destruction series, research by the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) and Amazon Watch found that international financiers, including BlackRock, Vanguard and Capital Group, poured USD $54.1 billion into eight large mining companies, including Vale, Anglo American, and Belo Sun. Complicity in Destruction IV: How mining companies and international investors drive Indigenous rights violations and threaten the future of the Amazon was spurred by our collective campaign with APIB, following CID III, where we began mapping the interests of large mining companies overlapping Indigenous lands in 2020.
Despite statements by giants such as Vale and Anglo American over the last few years claiming that they would withdraw their applications for research and mineral exploration in these territories, our research shows that many applications remain active in the Brazilian National Mining Agency’s (ANM) system; in some cases, there was even an increase in the number of requests. Additionally, some applications were resubmitted so that exploration areas remained directly adjacent to Indigenous lands, still causing enormous impact. We used these revelations as an opportunity to center our new investigation on the emerging threats of the mining industry, especially considering the current political context where the Bolsonaro administration is actively trying to legalize mining on Indigenous lands.
Mining on Indigenous lands is currently illegal in Brazil and the deforestation impacts on these territories would be devastating. Yet, the eight mining companies profiled in the report would like to explore Indigenous territories in Brazil. Some key findings from the report:
- Over the last five years, the companies highlighted in the report received billions in financing from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Brazil.
- U.S.-based corporations remain among the main financiers complicit in the destruction. Together, Capital Group, BlackRock, and Vanguard invested in mining companies with interests in Indigenous lands and history of rights violations.
- Brazilian institutions also hold a substantial share in the financing of large mining: PREVI (Banco do Brasil’s Employee Pension Fund) holds the highest investments in these mining companies, with more than US$ 7.4 billion, followed by the private bank Bradesco, with almost US$ 4.4 billion.
- The company that received the most investments and loans in this period was Vale, with US$ 35.8 billion, showing that not even the successive disasters in Mariana and Brumadinho reduced investors’ appetite for the mining company.
- In November 2021, there were almost 2500 active mining applications overlapping 261 Indigenous lands in the ANM system. These applications would exploit 10.1 million hectares of land, an area almost as large as England.
- The report also shows that, despite recent announcements by large mining companies such as Vale and Anglo American claiming they would abandon their interests in mineral exploration in Indigenous territories, thousands of mining requests overlapping these areas are still active in the Brazilian National Mining Agency (ANM) database.
- Complicity in Destruction IV also details, in five case studies, the impacts and violations of rights carried out by five of these mining companies: Vale, Anglo American, Belo Sun, Potássio do Brasil, and Mineração Taboca.
