MAM: Temer hands over Renca to transnational corporations

247 - The Movement for Popular Sovereignty in Mining (MAM) released a statement harshly criticizing Michel Temer's decree that opens up the National Copper and Associated Minerals Reserve (Renca) for mining. 

The entity provides important information about the high potential for mineral exploration within the reserve. "It is known that the reserve has two areas that are central to the issue, especially for Canadian, British, and Australian companies. These are the Ipitinga and Vila Nova groups. The first extends for 175 km and has 46 gold occurrences, 1 copper occurrence associated with gold, and another diamond occurrence. Vila Nova, on the other hand, extends for 355 km and has occurrences of iron, gold, manganese, and chromium. In addition to these two main occurrences, there are also 21 gold deposits, 1 tantalum deposit, 2 tin deposits, 1 cobalt deposit, and 1 niobium deposit. This is just to mention the mineral resources that were mapped in the 70s and early 80s, without considering that these studies need to be updated," says MAM. 

"The extinction of RENCA is part of a package of ultra-neoliberal measures that only tend to sacrifice the lives of workers, hand over our territory (soil and subsoil), and leave behind social and environmental liabilities, while the financialized sector of the economy linked to mining speculates on the stock market and makes 'rivers of money'," says the organization.

Read the full statement below:

Note from MAM

In the same week that the committees were formed to address the Provisional Measures on the new rules for mineral extraction in the country (MP 789, 790 and 791), the Coup Government forwarded Decree 9.142/2017, which extinguishes the National Copper and Associated Minerals Reserve (RENCA) located in the states of Pará and Amapá. These measures signal to the mining financial sector the handover of state reserves, just as it has signaled this intention with various measures to "ease" environmental licensing, authorize mining on indigenous lands, foreign ownership of land, and mining in border areas.

The reserve covers approximately 46.500 km², equivalent to a country like Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, or the state of Espírito Santo. The mineral reserves mapped before 1984 need to be revised due to the different technologies available at the time. Even with the low level of technology of that period, it is known that the reserve has two areas that are central to the issue, especially for Canadian, British, and Australian companies.

These are the Ipitinga and Vila Nova groups, the first extending 175 km with 46 gold occurrences, 1 copper occurrence associated with gold, and another diamond occurrence. Vila Nova, on the other hand, extends 355 km and contains iron, gold, manganese, and chromium. In addition to these two main occurrences, there are also 21 gold deposits, 1 tantalum deposit, 2 tin deposits, 1 cobalt deposit, and 1 niobium deposit. This is just to mention the mineral resources that were mapped in the 70s and early 80s, without considering that these studies need to be updated.

RENCA was created by the military dictatorship with the justification of guaranteeing national sovereignty through the control of strategic minerals in Brazilian territory. To understand the magnitude of the treasonous act committed by the extinction of RENCA, we compared some data from companies that already operate in the extraction of minerals present in the Reserve.

Anglo Gold, the world's third-largest gold producer, extracts approximately 7,4 grams of gold per ton of rock from its second-largest gold mine in Crixás (GO). This figure represents a very high value compared to other active mines in Brazil, such as the Canadian company Kinross (Paracatu-MG), which extracts gold at 0,40 grams per ton of rock. The proportion of gold mapped by studies from the Mineral Resources Research Company (CPRM) in the RENCA reserve is 21,2 grams per ton of rock extracted, making it a strategic reserve due to its high gold content.

In the case of iron, the highest iron content found on the planet is in the Carajás mine, corresponding to 67%, meaning that 67% of the extracted material is iron! The highest concentration in the world. In RENCA, this percentage is at the level of 61,35%, while in 2015 Samarco obtained the highest profit in the sector in Brazil, and the iron ore content was 45%. Let's imagine the company that will exploit the 61,35% iron content ore, how much profit will it make just from extracting this ore?

Within this vast territory, we also have the Tumucumaque Mountains National Park, the Paru and Amapá State Forests, the Maicuru Biological Reserve, the Jari Ecological Station, the Rio Cajari Extractive Reserve, the Rio Iratapuru Sustainable Development Reserve, and the Waiãpi and Rio Paru d'Este Indigenous Lands. These areas are home to riverside communities, quilombola communities, and indigenous peoples who will be directly or indirectly affected by the impacts of mining.

The argument used by the Coup Government that the "objective is to attract investments" and raise more revenue for the Brazilian state is untrue, since mining companies do not pay the full amount of the Financial Compensation for Mineral Extraction (CFEM) through tax maneuvers. Furthermore, the CFEM rate is one of the lowest in the world; and mining companies benefit from the Kandir Law, which exempts them from paying ICMS tax on the export of commodities.

The extinction of RENCA is part of a package of ultra-neoliberal measures that only tend to sacrifice the lives of workers, hand over our territory (soil and subsoil), and leave behind social and environmental liabilities, while the financialized sector of the economy linked to mining speculates on the stock market and makes "rivers of money."

The negative repercussions of the reserve's extinction, which has overlapping areas with conservation units, indigenous lands, and federal and state parks, pressured the government, which revoked the August 22nd decree and reformulated it in Decree 9147. This decree attempts to separate the overlaps, stating that mining cannot occur in these areas. At the same time, it disregards the fact that mining activity requires infrastructure to reach the mine site, including electricity, housing for workers, a railway/pipeline/highway to transport the ore, and a port. The unanswered question is: where will these infrastructure projects be built to serve the mining companies?

In addition to attempting to mitigate the problems related to the extinction of the Reserve, Temer's surrenderist decree also creates the "Monitoring Committee for the Environmental Areas of the Extinct RENCA." This committee lacks popular participation and is restricted to the federal sphere, linked to the National Mining Agency, thus becoming yet another government structure that will not serve the interests of the people. We know that the true interest lies in the minerals located in the reserve, which will allow for high rates of return for the business sector. We will continue to denounce the dismantling of the Brazilian State by the coup leader, the surrender of our natural resources, and we will fight in our territories.

All of this reaffirms the need to strengthen and promote Popular Assemblies in Mining with the intention of building a profound debate with Brazilian society regarding the need for the exercise of popular sovereignty in mining, building a social force that puts the people in motion as protagonists in directing Brazilian mineral policy, contributing to the construction of a Popular Project for Brazil.

National Coordination of MAM

29th August 2017.