{"id":4039,"date":"2026-04-15T18:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T18:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/?p=4039"},"modified":"2026-04-20T11:45:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:45:23","slug":"brazil-satellites-expose-rampant-gold-mining-expansion-on-indigenous-kayapo-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/?p=4039","title":{"rendered":"Brazil: Satellites expose rampant gold mining expansion on Indigenous Kayap\u00f3 land"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Kayap\u00f3 Indigenous Territory has emerged as a major hotspot for illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon\u2019s Xingu River Basin, a major Amazon tributary. That\u2019s according to a new report<\/a> from the watchdog Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP). <\/span><\/p>\n

At least 7,940 hectares (19,620 acres) of forest on Kayap\u00f3 land<\/a> were cut down for mining since 2018, according<\/a> to Amazon Mining Watch. Around 140 hectares (346 acres) were felled in 2025. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Xingu Basin, a 51-million-hectare river basin (126 million acres), roughly the size of Spain, cuts through Brazil\u2019s Par\u00e1 and Mato Grosso states and is home to some of the highest levels of deforestation from illegal gold mining in Brazil. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In May 2025, the Brazilian government carried out operations to remove illegal miners, destroying 25 large excavators, almost 1,000 tents and more than 400 engines. They seized 63 grams (2.2 ounces) of gold and almost 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of refined cocaine and cocaine base paste. A month later, in June 2025, just 2 hectares (5 acres) of land were illegally deforested.<\/span><\/p>\n

But by October 2025, mining activities began to encroach on the forest again, and an additional 15 hectares (37 acres) were deforested, MAAP\u2019s satellite monitoring showed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mining in the east of the Kayap\u00f3 Indigenous Territory. Image courtesy of MAAP. Data from Planet\/NICFI.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mining
Mining in the northeast of the Kayap\u00f3 Indigenous Territory. Image courtesy of MAAP. Data from Planet\/NICFI.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Roughly 16,000 hectares (39,540 acres) of forest were destroyed between 2018 and 2024, according to Amazon Mining Watch. An additional 400 hectares (990 acres) of mining-related deforestation was recorded between January and September of 2025. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIllegal mining in the Xingu basin is not an isolated activity,\u201d the MAAP report writes<\/a>. \u201cIt has spread to both Indigenous territories and protected areas, indicating the existence of a support network that provides the operational capacity and infrastructure necessary for the activity. This expansion brings with it a series of serious risks to the region and its communities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Mercury used in mining contaminates<\/a> the rivers that communities depend on for drinking, bathing and fishing. Stagnant pools of mining waste also become biohazards: outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and yellow fever are frequent. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mining and deforestation in the Xingu Basin corridor impacts five protected areas (Altamira National Forest, Iriri State Forest, Riozinho do Anfr\u00edsio Extractive Reserve, Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve and Rio Iriri Extractive Reserve) and five Indigenous lands (Kayap\u00f3, Ba\u00fa, Kuruaya, Trincheira Bacaj\u00e1 and Apyterewa).\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

In the Ba\u00fa Indigenous Territory, 10 hectares (25 acres) were cut down for mining in 2025. In the Kuruaya territory farther north, satellites detected another 4 hectares (10 acres) of deforestation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mining
Mining in Kuruaya Indigenous Territory. Map courtesy of MAAP. Data by Planet\/NICFI.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mining
Mining in Ba\u00fa Indigenous Territory. Map courtesy of MAAP. Data by Planet\/NICFI.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Banner image:<\/em><\/strong> Pista Velha mining site in the Ba\u00fa Indigenous Territory captured during an overflight on July 19, 2025. Image courtesy of the Xingu+ Network.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kayap\u00f3 Indigenous Territory has emerged as a major hotspot for illegal gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon\u2019s Xingu River Basin, a major Amazon tributary. That\u2019s according to a new report from the watchdog Monitoring of the Andes Amazon Program (MAAP). At least 7,940 hectares (19,620 acres) of forest on Kayap\u00f3 land were cut down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature-biodiversity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4041,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions\/4041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatevdo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}