Canadian potash mine in Amazon to proceed

The mine has sparked contention, with claims that it infringes on Indigenous rights in the region

By Anthony Boadle Reading Time: 2 minutes

Photo: iStock/Getty Images Plus

Reuters – Canadian firm Brazil Potash Corp. will begin to build Latin America’s largest fertilizer mine in the Amazon rainforest this year after its project received an installation licence issued by the Amazonas state environmental protection agency (IPAAM), the company’s chief executive officer said April 9.

Matt Simpson said the mine was not on officially recognized Indigenous land and the local Mura tribe had been consulted and was in favour of the potash mine.

“We will proceed with construction of the mine sometime later this year,” Simpson said. The C$3.58-billion project will take four years to build and create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, he said.

The Amazonas federal prosecutors office said April 9 that the licence issued by IPAAM was “irregular” because the permit should come from federal agency IBAMA, and the Mura people were properly consulted only once.

“The licence violates constitutional rights, international standards and also the rights of Indigenous peoples,” it said.

The project, which could reduce Brazilian agriculture’s 90 per cent dependence on imported potash, has been held up for years due to opposition from the Mura people, who say they have not been consulted about use of their ancestral lands.

In September, a federal judge in Manaus doubled down on her 2016 decision to suspend the project until the Mura were consulted. She also ruled that a licence must be federal.

A higher appeals court later overturned an injunction suspending the company’s state licence and ruled that IPAAM could issue the permit, because there is no officially recognized Indigenous territory in the area planned for the mine.

Amazonas Governor Wilson Lima, who backs the mine for the investment and development it will bring to his state, announced on April 8 the granting of the installation licence for the mine to be built in Autazes, 120 kilometres southeast of state capital Manaus.

Mura leaders say the mine overlaps their ancestral lands. They seek recognition as protected reservation land, but the demarcation process is pending by Indigenous affairs agency Funai, and divisions have emerged within the Mura community.

Five Mura communities and the Indigenous Association of Amazonas sent prosecutors letters that reject the governor’s announcement.

Gabriel Mura, leader of the Lago do Soares community, which will be the most affected by the mine, said no real consultation has taken place, and that Mura people were deceived into signing papers saying they had been consulted.

Simpson told Reuters his company believes a federal prosecutor in Manaus was “abusing his power” and colluding with the lower court judge to hinder a mine project that was of strategic importance for Brazil, a top world food exporter.