scholarly journals UMA GEOGRAFIA POLÍTICA DO OURO: SOBRE FRONTEIRA, GARIMPEIROS E DESPOSSESSÃO NA VOLTA GRANDE DO XINGU

GEOgraphia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (50) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josoaldo Lima Rego ◽  
Andrei Cornetta
Keyword(s):  
Gold Mining ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Hydroelectric Plant ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Mining Company ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Mining Project ◽  
Commercial Operation ◽  
Belo Monte ◽  
Reduced Water

Nas últimas duas décadas, poucas obras no Brasil deram margem a controvérsias e especulações tanto quanto a construção da Usina Hidroelétrica (UHE) Belo Monte, na Volta Grande do rio Xingu, estado do Pará. Atualmente, dois anos após o enchimento total dos reservatórios e do início da operação comercial da UHE, a população do Médio Xingu, particularmente aquela que se encontra no trecho de vazão reduzida da Volta Grande, continua sobre forte ameaça frente ao projeto de mineração de ouro em escala industrial. Valendo-se da vazão reduzida do rio, em decorrência da construção das barragens e de um garimpo de ouro em operação desde a década de 1940, uma mineradora canadense pretende exaurir, em pouco mais de uma década, a jazida de ouro que sustenta diversas famílias agroextrativistas há três gerações. Diante desta complexidade, o presente artigo discute, a partir de um olhar da geografia política, os aspectos relacionados à busca incessante de recursos materiais na Amazônia e seus desdobramentos em termos de despossessão e das disputas territoriais.Palavras-chave: Volta Grande do Xingu; mineração de ouro; fronteira; despossessão; território. A POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF GOLD: ON THE FRONTIER, MINERS AND DISPOSSESSION ON THE VOLTA GRANDE DO XINGU Abstract: In the last two decades, few projects in Brazil have been so controversial and have generated as much speculation as the construction of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant (HPP), on Xingu River in Volta Grande region, state of Pará. Four years after the total filling of the reservoirs and the beginning of the commercial operation of Belo Monte, the population living in Middle Xingu, particularly those located in the reduced water flow areas of Volta Grande region, continue to be affected by a major gold mining project. Taking advantage of the reduced river flow caused by the construction of the dams and gold mining operations since 1940s, a Canadian mining company is now intending to deplete the local gold reserves - that have sustained three generations of local families - in just over a decade. Considering this complexity, this paper departs from the perspectives of the movements of the capitalist frontier, to discuss the aspects related to the incessant search for material resources in the Amazon and its unfolding consequences in terms of dispossession and territorial disputes.Keywords: Volta Grande do Xingu; gold mining; frontier; dispossession; territory. UNA GEOGRAFÍA POLÍTICA DEL ORO: SOBRE FRONTERA, MINEROS Y DESPOSESIÓN Y EN LA VOLTA GRANDE DO XINGU Resumen: El concepto de territorio ha sufrido importantes transformaciones, requeridas tanto por las prácticas de su uso como por los cambios en las dinámicas del poder, especialmente en relación a los límites a los que se ven sometidas las relaciones sociales de poder debido a los cambios ambientales y las llamadas fuerzas de la naturaleza. Así como ya no se puede hablar de territorio sin hablar de sus bases "naturales", no se puede hablar de "poder" sin su profunda conjugación con las "fuerzas" de la naturaleza. Muchas personas que viven esta inseparabilidad enfrentan el terricidio, ya que la existencia de sus culturas depende de la interacción con un territorio específico que está siendo amenazado. La dimensión material, corpórea y/o “natural” del territorio es cada vez más importante, vista en la múltiple riqueza - la multiterritorialidad - de sus manifestaciones, involucrando el espacio de todos los seres vivos.Palabras clave: territorio, corporificación, naturaleza, terricidio, multiterritorialidad

scholarly journals Maintaining Mutual Benefits between Investor and Local Community: Mechanisms to Reopen Lega Dambi Gold Mining, Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-81
Author(s):  
Abdisa Olkeba Jima
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Mining Company ◽  
Social License ◽  
Corporate Social

Mining, specifically, large-scale gold mining has become one of the primary economic activities that play a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of one country. But there is no consensus among scholars whether gold mining companies maintain mutual benefits with local communities. The main objective of this research is to scrutinize the mechanism to be employed in reopening Lega Dambi large-scale gold mining by maintaining mutual benefits between the company and the local community. The researcher employed a qualitative method and a case study research design. Focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from the local community, elders, religious leaders, Abbaa Gadaas, Guji Zone, and Odo Shakiso Woreda investment office, land management office, social and labor affair, mineral, and energy office administrators, and Odo Shakiso Woreda health station and Adola hospital. Secondary sources and regulatory frameworks such as FDRE Constitution and Mining Operations Proclamation No. 678/2010 were used to triangulate with primary data. The finding shows that Lega Dambi's large-scale gold mining company failed to maintain mutual benefits between itself and the local community. Basic tenets such as national and regional corporate social responsibility, community development agreement, impact and benefit agreements, social and labor plan, and social license were not implemented properly to balance the mutual benefit between the company and the local community. The researcher concluded that Lega Dambi large-scale gold mining company disregarded the role of the local community during commencement time albeit it had a strong relationship with the central government. Consequently, the company was terminated because of a bad relationship it had with the local community. It is recommended that national and regional corporate social responsibility that shows the company’s specific joint administration of the central and Oromia region governments should be designed and implemented fully. It is also recommended that discussions should be held with local communities and arrived at a consensus concerning the reopening of the company.

scholarly journals DEVELOPMENT-INDUCED DISPLACEMENT IN ROMANIA: THE CASE OF ROŞIA MONTANĂ MINING PROJECT

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucian VESALON ◽  
Remus CREȚAN
Keyword(s):  
Rural Community ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Economic Structure ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Compensation Mechanism ◽  
Mining Company ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mining Project ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Displacement Processes

This paper proposes a critical discussion of the population displacement processes involved in the Ro?ia Montan? gold-mining project within the theoretical framework of development-induced displacement (DID). We begin with an overview of the geographical context of the rural community, focusing on the social and economic structure of Ro?ia Montan?. After assessing the relocation and resettlement processes, we examine several problems related to the compensation mechanism set up by the mining company. The aim of the research is to highlight the complexity of the consequences of development-induced displacement and the limits of the policies of relocation and resettlement in the area.

Screening and Isolation of Bacterial Strains with the Biotechnological Potential to Destruct Cyanide-Bearing Compounds under the Conditions of Extreme Continental Climate

2015 ◽  
Vol 1130 ◽  
pp. 19-22
Author(s):  
M.P. Belykh ◽  
S.V. Petrov ◽  
V.F. Petrov ◽  
A.Yu. Chikin ◽  
N.L. Belkova
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Molecular Genetic ◽  
Heap Leaching ◽  
Bacterial Strains ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Biotechnological Potential ◽  
Enriched Cultures ◽  
Continental Climate

The methods of biodegradation are of special interest because they help solving environmental problems of wastes detoxification from gold-mining operations. The use of bacterial strains is a promising approach in the field of biotechnology to destruct cyanide-bearing compounds. The diversity of microbial communities both in heap in situ and in the enriched cultures was studied with molecular genetic methods. The differences in representation of bacteria, cultivated in unexploitable and operating heaps, are territory, site and heap specific. The strains of Pseudomonas sp. and Methylobacterium sp. possess the biotechnological potential and might be used in biodegradation of heap leaching wastes in extreme continental climate.

scholarly journals Gold, timber, war and parks : A history of the Rushworth Forest in central Victoria

2010 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth E. Lawrence ◽  
Marc P. Bellette
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Resource Utilisation ◽  
World War ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Prisoner Of War ◽  
Central Victoria ◽  
History Of

The Rushworth Forest is a Box and Ironbark open sclerophyll forest in central Victoria that has been subject to a long history of gold mining activity and forest utilisation. This paper documents the major periods of land use history in the Rushworth Forest and comments on the environmental changes that have occurred as a result. During the 1850s to 1890s, the Forest was subject to extensive gold mining operations, timber resource use, and other forest product utilisation, which generated major changes to the forest soils, vegetation structure and species cover. From the 1890s to 1930s, concern for diminishing forest cover across central Victoria led to the creation of timber reserves, including the Rushworth State Forest. After the formation of a government forestry department in 1919, silvicultural practices were introduced which aimed at maximising the output of tall timber production above all else. During World War II, the management of the Forest was taken over by the Australian Army as Prisoner of War camps were established to harvest timber from the Forest for firewood production. Following the War, the focus of forestry in Victoria moved away from the Box and Ironbark forests, but low value resource utilisation continued in the Rushworth Forest from the 1940s to 1990s. In 2002, about one-third of the Forest was declared a National Park and the other two-thirds continued as a State Forest. Today, the characteristics of the biophysical environment reflect the multiple layers of past land uses that have occurred in the Rushworth Forest.

Emissions of greenhouse gases in terrestrial areas pre-existing to hydroelectric plant reservoirs in the Amazon: The case of Belo Monte hydroelectric plant

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 1728-1736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Carolina Rocha Lessa ◽  
Marco Aurélio dos Santos ◽  
John Edwin Lewis Maddock ◽  
Clauber dos Santos Bezerra
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Hydroelectric Plant ◽  
Belo Monte

scholarly journals Expansão urbana recente em Altamira (PA): novas tendências de crescimento a partir da instalação da UHE Belo Monte

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 34
Author(s):  
José Queiroz de Miranda Neto ◽  
José Antônio Herrera
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Hydroelectric Plant ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Urban Morphology ◽  
Social Production ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Real Estate ◽  
La Red ◽  
Belo Monte

ResumoEste artigo analisa o processo de expansão urbana recente em Altamira – PA, de modo a verificar as novas tendências de crescimento a partir da instalação da usina hidrelétrica de Belo Monte. São utilizados como bases teóricas os conceitos ligados à morfologia urbana e à produção social do espaço urbano. A expansão urbana recente se constitui a partir de fatores articulados ao processo de instalação da usina hidrelétrica, onde se verifica um crescimento acelerado da malha urbana em várias direções, respeitando o sentido das vias estruturantes. Tal crescimento chega a ultrapassar 50% e se dá a partir de novas instalações urbanas para habitação e uso coletivo, públicas e privadas, que alteram o desenho da cidade, sua paisagem e estrutura urbana. Nesse novo cenário, cabe destaque ao papel dos agentes imobiliários e do poder público, bem como da empresa Norte Energia S.A como indutora de processos e agente ordenador do território.Palavras Chave: Expansão urbana, morfologia, Altamira, Belo Monte.  AbstractThis article analyzes the process of recent urban expansion in Altamira, Pará State, in order to check for new growth trends after the implementation of the hydroelectric plant of Belo Monte. The concepts related to urban morphology and social production of urban space are used as theoretical basis to this study. The recent urban expansion is composed by factors related to the hydroelectric plant implementation process, which shows a rapid growth of the urban mesh in several directions, respecting the way of structuring roads. Such growth exceeds 50% and it happens by means of public and private new urban facilities for housing and collective use that alter the design of the city, its landscape and urban infrastructure. In this new scenario, it is highlighted the real estate agents’, government’s, and  Norte Energia corporation’s roles, being the former one considered an originator territory agent and responsible for  inducing this processes.Keywords: urban expansion, morphology, Altamira, Belo Monte.  ResumenEn este artículo se analiza el proceso de reciente expansión urbana en Altamira-PA, con el fin de comprobar si hay nuevas tendencias de crecimiento después de la instalación de la central hidroeléctrica de Belo Monte. Se utilizan como base teórica los conceptos relacionados con la morfología urbana y la producción social del espacio urbano. La reciente expansión urbana se constituye a partir de factores relacionados con el proceso de instalación de la planta hidroeléctrica, donde hay un rápido crecimiento de la red urbana en varias direcciones, respetando el modo de estructuración de las carreteras. Este crecimiento es superior al 50% y se produce a partir de nuevos equipamientos urbanos para viviendas y uso colectivo, públicos y privados, que alteren el diseño de la ciudad, su paisaje y la estructura urbana . En este nuevo escenario, hay que destacar el papel de los agentes de bienes raíces, el gobierno y también del Norte Energia S.A , que induce procesos y articula el territorio .Palavras Chave: expansión urbana, morfología, Altamira, Belo Monte. 

scholarly journals Heavy Metals in the Soils of Placer Small-Scale Gold Mining Sites in Myanmar

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (27) ◽  
pp. 200911
Author(s):  
Aung Zaw Tun ◽  
Pokkate Wongsasuluk ◽  
Wattasit Siriwong
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metals ◽  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Soil Samples ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mining Activities ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Metal Concentrations ◽  
Mining Sites ◽  
Heavy Metal Concentrations

Background. Artisanal and small-scale mining activities are widely practiced globally. Concentrations of heavy metals associated with gold, such as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) can increase in the environment as a result of mining activities, leading to environmental pollution and pose toxicity risks to humans and animals. Objectives. The aim of the present study was to investigate soil concentrations of toxic heavy metals in placer small-scale gold mining operations in Myanmar. Methods. Soil samples were collected from three placer small-scale gold mining sites: Site A located in the Hmawbon public protected forest, Site B and Site C, situated in the Nant-Kyin reserved forest around Nar Nant Htun village. At each site, soil samples were collected from four gold mining stages (ore processing, sluicing, panning, and amalgamation). Atomic absorption spectroscopy was utilized to examine the concentrations of As, Cd, Pb, and Hg. Results. The highest heavy metal concentrations were generally found in the amalgamation stages across all the gold mining sites. Across the three mining sites, the maximum heavy metal concentrations in the amalgamation stage were 22.170 mg.kg−1 for As, 3.070 mg.kg−1 for Cd, 77.440 mg.kg−1 for Hg, and 210.000 mg.kg−1 for Pb. Conclusions. The present study examined the concentrations of As, Cd, Hg and Pb in the soil of several small-scale gold mining sites in Banmauk Township, Myanmar. The results demonstrated the presence of high concentrations of heavy metals in the soil of the gold mining sites. Miners in this area work without proper personal protective equipment, and frequent exposure to heavy metals in the soil may cause adverse health effects. The present study provides baseline data for future risk assessment studies of heavy metal contamination in gold mines. Competing Interests. The authors declare no competing financial interests

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