Geography and Mining in Carajás/Pará (Northern Region of Brazil)

Abstract

This essay examines the actions of Major Mining Projects in the region of Carajás, the state of Pará, Northern Brazil, which concentrates the projects of one of the largest mining companies of the Planet, the Vale Group, and the relations of power and authority in land use in the corresponding area to the former city of Marabá. The territories exploited by major mining projects, also increase land use that has not been translated into socioeconomic development, and add little value to labor and the product. Another issue is lack of a National Mining Policy that truly establishes the regional supply chains, and conducts the multiplier effects to produce new territorial jurisdictions. Mining contributes to socioeconomic development of the Amazon region, especially in the Carajás region and promotes the economic organization of the territories for the consolidation of municipalities in which society in its favor uses natural resources. The main objective of this paper is to present the main impacts caused by mining activities in Pará municipalities. Textual elaboration was necessary documentary and bibliographical analysis, in addition to field research in the study area. We can observe, that mining is an important productive activity, but has caused significant changes in Pará territory, both in economy and in the environment, and the way of life of local populations.

Eight New Species of Charinus Simon, 1892 (Arachnida: Amblypygi: Charinidae) Endemic for the Brazilian Amazon, with Notes on Their Conservational Status

“…The region where these species inhabits is a hematite mining area and all three were collected inside iron caves in an area called Canga (Brazilian name to isolated inselbergs on tops of mountains in the states of Minas Gerais and Pará, associated with superficial iron crust, characterized by the presence of iron stone and ferricrete soils, similar to the banded iron formations (BIFs) in South-Western Australia; it is also characterized by high local and regional diversity [ 66 , 67 ]), and lots of those caves are being destroyed by one of the largest mining companies of the planet. Therewith, the environment is suffering large alterations [ 68 ]. It is not known whether these species inhabits also outside the caves or in other caves, so the destruction of the Canga presets a real threaten to these species.…”

Reproductive phenology of critical native plant species for mineland restoration in the eastern Amazon

“…The area is marked by the presence of a series of plateaus topped by ironstone outcrops, locally known as canga . Surrounded by a forest matrix, the canga harbors a particularly biodiverse, savanna‐like vegetation (Giulietti et al, 2019; Mota et al, 2018; Silva et al, 2014; Skirycz et al, 2014; Viana et al, 2016). The flora of the cangas is highly adapted to specific environmental features, such as solar exposure, with no or very scarce soil formation, marked rainfall seasonality and high temperatures throughout the year, and metal rich soils, where many rare, endemic and threatened species are found (Giulietti et al, 2019; Mota et al, 2018; Ribeiro et al, 2017; Viana et al, 2016).…”