Legal Gold Garimpo in the Amazon: Recommendations for Adequate Control of Socio-Environmental Impacts

The report argues that legal gold garimpo in the Amazon has evolved from an artisanal practice into an industrial-scale business, yet it remains subject to anachronistic regulations that lack necessary socio-environmental safeguards. Analysis of National Mining Agency (ANM) data shows a significant increase in authorized areas between 2016 and 2023, with cooperatives dominating the landscape. The authors highlight critical gaps, such as the lack of a 'prior discovery' requirement for garimpo and the undue simplification of environmental licensing in Pará, which delegates authority to municipalities despite the high-impact nature of the activity. The document recommends extending industrial mining requirements to cooperatives, shelving lenient legislative bills in Congress, and implementing a rigorous three-stage licensing process with mandatory Environmental Impact Studies (EIA/RIMA) in Pará.

• Legal gold garimpo in the Amazon has transitioned from a rudimentary artisanal activity to an industrial-scale business, particularly through cooperatives. Between 2016 and 2023, approximately 82% of Brazil's authorized gold garimpo areas were established in the Legal Amazon, totaling 630,020 hectares.
• Garimpeiro cooperatives dominate the legal mining landscape in the Amazon, holding significantly larger areas than individual miners or firms. In Pará, a small number of cooperatives hold the vast majority of legal areas; the top 10% of permits (all cooperatives) cover approximately 80% of the state's legal gold garimpo areas.
• Federal regulations for garimpo are anachronistic because they exempt operators from 'prior discovery'—the process of defining mineral deposits and economic viability—which is required for industrial mining. This gap facilitates gold laundering and hinders the monitoring of socio-environmental damage.
• Current legislative trends in the Brazilian National Congress are viewed as regressive. Bill no. 2,973 of 2023 and Bill no. 957 of 2024 are criticized for seeking to expand the list of mineable minerals or facilitate operations without correcting the regulatory distortions that allow industrial-scale mining to operate under lenient artisanal rules.
• In the state of Pará, environmental licensing for garimpo is improperly simplified. Despite the state classifying garimpo as a 'high pollution potential' activity, it allows a single-phase license (Operating License) and simplified studies (Environmental Control Report) instead of the standard three-stage process and mandatory Environmental Impact Studies (EIA/RIMA).
• The delegation of environmental licensing to municipalities in Pará for areas up to 50 hectares (previously 500 hectares) is contested due to the insufficient capacity of local bodies to manage high-impact activities. This issue is currently under review by the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF).
• There is a significant lack of transparency regarding socio-environmental safeguards. In Pará, licensing data is fragmented across municipalities, and the National Mining Agency (ANM) has denied requests for information on environmental licensing, citing confidentiality.

APA

Climate Policy Initiative (2025). Legal Gold Garimpo in the Amazon: Recommendations for Adequate Control of Socio-Environmental Impacts. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/legal-gold-garimpo-in-the-amazon-recommendations-for-adequate-control-of-socio-environmental-impacts/

Chicago

Climate Policy Initiative. Legal Gold Garimpo in the Amazon: Recommendations for Adequate Control of Socio-Environmental Impacts. 2025. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/legal-gold-garimpo-in-the-amazon-recommendations-for-adequate-control-of-socio-environmental-impacts/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Policy Initiative |title=Legal Gold Garimpo in the Amazon: Recommendations for Adequate Control of Socio-Environmental Impacts |date=24 June 2025 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/legal-gold-garimpo-in-the-amazon-recommendations-for-adequate-control-of-socio-environmental-impacts/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climatepolicyinitiative2025legal, author = {{Climate Policy Initiative}}, title = {{Legal Gold Garimpo in the Amazon: Recommendations for Adequate Control of Socio-Environmental Impacts}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/publication/legal-gold-garimpo-in-the-amazon-recommendations-for-adequate-control-of-socio-environmental-impacts/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }