Garimpo Legal do Ouro na Amazônia: Recomendações para um Adequado Controle dos Impactos Socioambientais

The report argues that legal gold mining in the Amazon, particularly when conducted by cooperatives, has evolved from an artisanal activity into an industrial-scale enterprise, yet remains subject to an anachronistic and lenient regulatory regime. It highlights a significant increase in legal mining areas between 2016 and 2023, with 82% of Brazil's approved gold mining areas located in the Legal Amazon. The authors identify critical gaps, such as the lack of mandatory prior mineral research for 'garimpo' and the use of simplified, municipalized environmental licensing in Pará, which contradicts the activity's classification as high-impact. The document recommends extending prior research requirements to cooperatives, rejecting legislative proposals that further ease mining restrictions without adding safeguards, and restoring rigorous trifasic licensing and EIA/Rima requirements in Pará.

• Legal gold mining areas in the Legal Amazon grew continuously from 2016 to 2023, accounting for approximately 82% of all approved gold mining areas in Brazil, totaling 630,020 hectares out of 770,464 hectares nationwide.
• Mining cooperatives have become the dominant actors in legal gold mining in the Amazon, controlling areas that average 178% of the combined areas held by individuals and individual firms, indicating a shift from artisanal to industrial-scale operations.
• Current federal law allows 'garimpo' to bypass mandatory prior mineral research required for industrial mining, a loophole that enables cooperatives to operate at an industrial scale without the planning that would restrict socio-environmental damage.
• In the state of Pará, gold mining is classified as having a high potential for pollution, yet it is subject to simplified, monofasic licensing and the use of low-impact environmental reports (RCA) instead of the required trifasic licensing and EIA/Rima.
• There is a significant lack of transparency regarding socio-environmental safeguards, as the National Mining Agency (ANM) often grants confidentiality to PLG processes, and Pará's municipalized licensing leads to fragmented information.
• Pending legislative proposals, such as PL 2973/2023 and PL 957/2024, are viewed as risks because they seek to further facilitate gold mining without correcting existing regulatory distortions or increasing environmental responsibilities.

APA

Cozendey, G., & Chiavari, J. (2025). Garimpo Legal do Ouro na Amazônia: Recomendações para um Adequado Controle dos Impactos Socioambientais. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Garimpo-Legal-do-Ouro-PT-2407.pdf

Chicago

Cozendey, Gabriel, and Joana Chiavari. Garimpo Legal do Ouro na Amazônia: Recomendações para um Adequado Controle dos Impactos Socioambientais. Climate Policy Initiative, 2025. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Garimpo-Legal-do-Ouro-PT-2407.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Cozendey |first1=Gabriel |last2=Chiavari |first2=Joana |title=Garimpo Legal do Ouro na Amazônia: Recomendações para um Adequado Controle dos Impactos Socioambientais |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=2025 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Garimpo-Legal-do-Ouro-PT-2407.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cozendey2025garimpo, author = {Cozendey, Gabriel and Chiavari, Joana}, title = {{Garimpo Legal do Ouro na Amazônia: Recomendações para um Adequado Controle dos Impactos Socioambientais}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Garimpo-Legal-do-Ouro-PT-2407.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }