More than 100 indigenous people have been camping since February 23 in the Funai regional coordination building in Altamira, Pará, demanding an end to the installation license for a gold mining project by Belo Sun in the Volta Grande do Xingu region. The protest, led by the Movimento de Mulheres Indígenas do Médio Xingu, criticizes Funai's role in the licensing process.
The protest began on February 23 and is led by the Indigenous Women of the Médio Xingu Movement. The demonstrators demand the cancellation of the license for the gold mining project by the Canadian company Belo Sun, which plans to extract five tons of gold per year for at least 12 years in a sensitive area of the Brazilian Amazon.
"Funai is negligent. It simply stayed silent about what's happening. It accepted the studies presented by Belo Sun," said Sol Juruna, a protest organizer, to Folha de S.Paulo. "We will only leave here after revoking this license."
Funai stated in a note that it is in dialogue with indigenous peoples and mediates contacts between Belo Sun and affected communities, including recently contacted peoples. The agency opposes issuing licenses without community input and its own approval. In 2020, Funai granted preliminary license approval but later revoked it due to potential violations of non-village indigenous rights. Only two peoples were consulted, according to the movement.
The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) requested, on February 19, the suspension of the installation license, claiming Belo Sun failed to meet judicial conditions to protect communities. The 1st Regional Federal Court (TRF1) reinstated the license based on technical and legal grounds, per the company. Belo Sun states it is adopting all necessary measures in the environmental licensing process.
The Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coiab) repudiated the granting, highlighting threats to indigenous rights and socio-environmental devastation, such as deforestation, mercury contamination, and food scarcity.
The Volta Grande project, under licensing since 2012, involves an open-pit mine, a 35 million cubic meter tailings dam with toxic substances like arsenic and lead, cyanide use, and cumulative impacts with the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant. A 2023 report by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib) warns of risks to community food security.
