{"id":85115,"date":"2026-04-28T14:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redept.com.br\/blogosfera\/gold-mining-companies-facing-environmental-lawsuits-and-fines-got-r90-million-in-tax-breaks\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T14:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T17:40:15","slug":"gold-mining-companies-facing-environmental-lawsuits-and-fines-got-r90-million-in-tax-breaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redept.com.br\/blogosfera\/gold-mining-companies-facing-environmental-lawsuits-and-fines-got-r90-million-in-tax-breaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold mining companies facing environmental lawsuits and fines got R$90 million in tax breaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

GOLD MINING COMPANIES<\/strong> with a recent history of environmental violations, implicated by oversight bodies in irregularities and in conflict with communities, received R$90.1 million in federal tax exemptions between 2024 and 2025, according to an exclusive survey by Rep\u00f3rter Brasil<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In Cuiab\u00e1, the capital of Mato Grosso, Minera\u00e7\u00e3o Aric\u00e1 obtained tax exemptions even after an embargo registered by Ibama (the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) as part of a Federal Police operation investigating the illegal use of mercury.<\/p>\n

Another company with an active embargo imposed by the environmental agency is Minera\u00e7\u00e3o Aurizona S.A., which received the benefits after the company left 4,000 people without access to drinking water following the rupture of a lagoon used as a mining dam in March 2021, in the Maranh\u00e3o municipality of Godofredo Viana.<\/p>\n

Aura Almas Minera\u00e7\u00e3o S.A., which operates in Almas, Tocantins, ignored the existence of quilombola communities in its environmental licensing project, according to a lawsuit filed by the State Public Defender\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the total tax breaks for the three companies totalled R$51 million (UDS 10,9 million). In 2025, they totaled R$39.1 million (USD 7,8 million). Data on federal tax benefits and waivers are publicly available and published by the Ministry of Finance.<\/p>\n

Benefit laws do not include socio-environmental criteria<\/h2>\n

In the case of Aurizona, the benefit was granted through the Superintendency for the Development of the Amazon (Sudam), under a law created in the early 1960s to encourage the expansion of raw-material extraction sectors in the region.<\/p>\n

Over more than 60 years in force, Law 4,216, which regulates the benefit, has undergone few changes thanks to lobbying by the sectors that benefit from it, says Alessandra Cardoso, a policy adviser at Inesc (the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies).<\/p>\n

\u201cThese laws usually last ten years. When that deadline approaches, they [businesspeople] organize in the National Congress and renew them without any change,\u201d Cardoso explains. She is the author of the technical note \u201cTax Incentives in the Amazon,\u201d published in 2023 by Inesc, in which she points to the \u201cquestionable economic and social effects and negative environmental impacts\u201d of this type of tax exemption.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Sudam benefit, the three mining companies were granted incentives under the Special Regime for the Acquisition of Capital Goods by Exporting Companies (Recap), which suspends taxes on the purchase of machinery and equipment.<\/p>\n

The laws governing both benefits do not establish socio-environmental criteria for granting them. \u201cIt is absurd [that these benefits] are renewed without environmental, social, climate or socio-environmental responsibility criteria for these companies,\u201d Cardoso says.<\/p>\n

\"Without
Without socio-environmental criteria, tax incentive laws allow tax exemptions for gold mining companies with environmental liabilities. Pictured: aerial view of a garimpo in Itaituba, southwest Par\u00e1 (Photo: Fernando Martinho\/Rep\u00f3rter Brasil)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the Inesc adviser, gaps in tax incentive legislation end up financing the activities of companies with socio-environmental problems. \u201cThere are no benefits for communities, and there is not even a ban on things that are already very common in the financial sector, such as lists related to slave labor and deforestation,\u201d Cardoso says.<\/p>\n

In a statement sent to Rep\u00f3rter Brasil<\/strong>, Brazil\u2019s Federal Revenue Service said that the environmental reputation of companies receiving tax incentives is assessed only when this is expressly required by the law that created the benefit, which is not the case in the examples presented in this report. \u201cEvery tax benefit is determined by law, which contains the objective criteria for granting it. It is up to the Federal Revenue Service to determine whether the applicant for that benefit meets the requirements to receive it,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n

Beneficiary has area interdicted over illegal mercury use<\/h2>\n

One of the companies benefiting from Recap is Minera\u00e7\u00e3o Aric\u00e1, which received R$677,800 (USD 135,540) in incentives in 2025. In 2024, the amount was R$30,800 (USD 6,159).<\/p>\n

In November 2023, the mining company had an area embargoed and was fined R$1.5 million (USD 300,000) for submitting false information to the official system that controls the purchase and sale of mercury and for keeping the substance in violation of the law.<\/p>\n

Ibama\u2019s enforcement action took place as part of a development in Operation Hermes II, launched in 2023 by Ibama and the Brazilian Federal Police to investigate the illegal trade and use of mercury and other crimes, including criminal organization and association.<\/p>\n

Highly toxic and capable of contaminating aquatic ecosystems, mercury can cause neurological, reproductive and immune-system damage in humans. By law, all legally sourced mercury must be declared and reported in Ibama\u2019s Mercury Report system, as must purchase and sale transactions.<\/p>\n

The embargo, registered in the district of Coxip\u00f3 do Ouro, in the rural area of Cuiab\u00e1, capital of the state of Mato Grosso, remains active. Even so, the company reported payment of CFEM (Financial Compensation for the Exploitation of Mineral Resources) in 2024 for the sale of 211.2 kilograms of gold that year.<\/p>\n

According to Ibama, the mining company is contesting the notices of violation, and the fines imposed by the environmental agency have not yet been paid. The Federal Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office in S\u00e3o Paulo confirmed to Rep\u00f3rter Brasil<\/strong> that it received the Federal Police report with the results of the investigations into Operation Hermes II, but said the proceeding is under seal and that it could not confirm whether Minera\u00e7\u00e3o Aric\u00e1 or its partners are under investigation.<\/p>\n

Rep\u00f3rter Brasil<\/strong> sought to contact Minera\u00e7\u00e3o Aric\u00e1 by telephone, email and through a lawyer who had previously acted in the company\u2019s defense, but was unable to reach company representatives. Space remains open for future comment.<\/p>\n

Dam rupture left 4,000 people without drinking water<\/h2>\n

To this day, the 4,000 residents of the community of Aurizona, a rural district of Godofredo Viana in northern Maranh\u00e3o, continue to suffer the consequences of the contamination of the waters of the Troma\u00ed River, which supplies the town. The pollution arrived in March 2021, with the rupture of the Lagoa do Pirocaua dam, controlled by Minera\u00e7\u00e3o Aurizona S.A.<\/p>\n

Even with an embargo registered by Ibama since April 2021 as a result of the rupture, the mining company tops the list of tax-waiver amounts among the three companies cited in this report.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the company received R$38.1 million (USD 7,6 million) in exemptions, most of it \u2014 R$35.9 million (USD 7,1 million) \u2014 through Sudam. In 2024, the benefit was even larger, totaling R$47.2 million (USD 9,4 million). Once again, the legislation created under Sudam accounted for the largest share, R$44.5 million (USD 8,9 million). The company also accessed Recap.<\/p>\n

The rupture affected the district\u2019s wells, which became unusable. The community now consumes bottled mineral water supplied by Aurizona, according to affected residents interviewed by Rep\u00f3rter Brasil<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest damage was to our WTS, our Water Treatment Station,\u201d says teacher Daiane Lima Sousa, 37. \u201cBecause of our struggles, with MAB [the Movement of People Affected by Dams], they [Mineradora Aurizona] restored the WTS. But we know it will never be 100%,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The teacher says the company carried out material repair measures for residents harmed by the spill. The environmental damage is still under analysis.<\/p>\n

Since September 2021, Aurizona, as well as the state of Maranh\u00e3o, have been the targets of a Public Civil Action filed by the Federal Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office, which seeks reparations for environmental damage.<\/p>\n

In November 2025, the court authorized an expert assessment to determine whether the remediation measures adopted by the company were technically sufficient and whether damage remains in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current situation of the families, with regard to water supply and the environmental quality of the region, is one of the questions that the court-ordered expert assessment must answer,\u201d the Federal Public Defender\u2019s Office, which is acting as an assistant to the Federal Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office in the case, told Rep\u00f3rter Brasil.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the case proceeds, the company continues to operate. Minera\u00e7\u00e3o Aurizona had not answered the questions sent by Rep\u00f3rter Brasil <\/strong>by the time the report was published. Space remains open for future comment.<\/p>\n

Quilombola territories ignored<\/h2>\n

In 2024, the year in which Aura Almas Minera\u00e7\u00e3o S.A. obtained R$3.7 million (USD 740,000) in tax exemptions through Recap, the company\u2019s operations in the municipality of Almas (TO) had already changed the routine of residents of the Bai\u00e3o quilombola community.<\/p>\n

The noise from rock blasting disturbs those living in the area affected by the project. Heavy truck traffic on what used to be a quiet road worries residents, who fear accidents, says Maryellen Cris\u00f3stomo, who was born and raised in the Bai\u00e3o community and is now coordinator of the Tocantins State Coordination of Quilombola Communities (COEQTO).<\/p>\n

The Bai\u00e3o community has not yet had its land regularization process completed by Incra (the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform). When that happens, the dam used by the mining company \u2014 just five kilometers from the inhabited area \u2014 will directly border the quilombo.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one ever came to talk to us about an escape route, a safety program or anything like that,\u201d said Benvinda Fernandes Cardoso, 54, a resident of Bai\u00e3o, in aninterview for Rep\u00f3rter Brasil<\/strong> in May 2024.<\/p>\n

At the end of 2023, the Tocantins Public Defender\u2019s Office, together with COEQTO, filed a Public Civil Action seeking the suspension of the mining company\u2019s activities. The lawsuit cites the lack of prior consultation with directly affected quilombola communities, as required by ILO Convention 169, as well as alleged flaws in the mine\u2019s environmental licensing process.<\/p>\n

\"Eliene
Eliene Cris\u00f3stomo, president of the Association of Quilombola Remnants: \u201cWe were already here and we were not consulted\u201d (Photo: Fernando Martinho\/Rep\u00f3rter Brasil)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe questioned not only the absence of a consultation process, but also the fact that this exploitation was taking place on the basis of a simplified environmental impact study, and not a full EIA\/RIMA [Environmental Impact Study and Environmental Impact Report],\u201d says public defender Kenia Martins Pimenta Fernandes, coordinator of the Agrarian and Environmental Public Defender\u2019s Office in Tocantins.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the Court of Justice of Tocantins rejected the preliminary injunction that sought to suspend Aura Almas\u2019 activities until the affected communities had been heard. That year, the mining company was again granted Recap benefits, with exemptions worth R$269,600 (USD 53,920). \u201cWe lost the injunction. On the other hand, the case is moving toward a judgment on the merits,\u201d Fernandes explains.<\/p>\n

Also last year, the Public Defender\u2019s Office held a conciliation hearing, where it established requirements for the company to continue operating. The request includes the preparation of a new Environmental Impact Study and the carrying out of consultation in accordance with the protocol defined by the communities. According to Fernandes, Aura Almas agreed to the proposal.<\/p>\n

The agreement is now being formalized. In the meantime, the mining company continues to expand its exploration area among the communities. Seven new mining fronts are in the process of being opened, according to the Public Defender\u2019s Office. In addition to Bai\u00e3o, four other quilombola communities are located in the impact zone: Po\u00e7o Dantas, in the municipality of Almas; S\u00e3o Joaquim and Laginha, both in Porto Alegre do Tocantins; and Lajeado, in Dian\u00f3polis. These territories are awaiting technical studies to identify the areas of common use by the communities.<\/p>\n

Maryellen Cris\u00f3stomo confirms that the company has been in contact with quilombolas. The results of the dialogue, however, are not always favorable to the residents of those areas. \u201cThe mining company went to Lajeado to say that, with or without consent, there will be an extraction point in the territory,\u201d she says.In response to Rep\u00f3rter Brasil,<\/strong> Aura Almas Minera\u00e7\u00e3o said that its unit in Almas maintains regular operations in compliance with Brazilian law. The company said it \u201cprioritizes regional socioeconomic development through the hiring of local labor and the strengthening of the region\u2019s supplier chain\u201d and that it promotes \u201cqualification and integration initiatives that contribute to coexistence based on mutual respect and shared growth.\u201d Regarding the Public Civil Action filed by the State Public Defender\u2019s Office, the company added that it \u201cfully cooperates with the authorities and that the case is following the regular judicial process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Gold mining companies facing environmental lawsuits and fines got R$90 million in tax breaks appeared first on Rep\u00f3rter Brasil.<\/p>\n

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