Lula moves against bill allowing mining on indigenous land

President Lula and Indigenous Peoples Minister Sônia Guajajara. Photo: Ricardo Stuckert/PR

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday requested Congress to drop a bill that would allow mining in indigenous lands. The previous administration of Jair Bolsonaro drafted the legislation.

Mr. Bolsonaro has long advocated lifting controls on mining operations in Brazil, especially in the Amazon. Mr. Bolsonaro has repeatedly said that the country’s rainforest contains “the entire periodic table” of elements.

In February 2022, Mr. Bolsonaro used the Ukraine war as a pretext to allow mining ventures in the Amazon. The former president claimed the measure would free Brazil from its dependence on Russia for obtaining potassium-based fertilizers.

A month later, he spoke with then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, officially about the need for a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war which had started less than a month prior. One day after the phone call, Mr. Bolsonaro’s House whip, Congressman Ricardo Barros, announced that he would introduce a motion to fast-track the bill allowing mining on indigenous lands.

Mining giants operating in Brazil with British capital include Anglo American (headquartered in London), BHP Billiton (headquartered in Melbourne, Australia), and AngloGold Ashanti (headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa).

In January 2021, Anglo American published a statement saying that it “will always adhere to local laws and international standards when engaging with indigenous peoples,” a sign that it is not opposed to mining on indigenous lands where the law allows.

Mr. Bolsonaro has also cozied up to Elon Musk. The billionaire is the CEO of Tesla, a company with an avid interest in rare minerals for electric vehicles.

The move to fast-track the bill was successful but discussions stalled after large protests in Brasília. A committee to discuss the bill was never created.

Defenders of illegal wildcat miners in the Amazon currently hold key positions in a select Senate committee set up to investigate the situation of the indigenous Yanomami people.

The bill on mining on indigenous lands is one of the last low-hanging fruits available for the current administration to reaffirm its environmental commitments and push to undo the legacy of Jair Bolsonaro.

But the government has a much more contentious issue at hand, as Petrobras — a state-controlled firm — pushes to drill for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River. Environment Minister Marina Silva has recently compared the project to the Belo Monte dam, a gigantic hydroelectric complex which has caused deleterious impacts on the local environment.