Leonardo DiCaprio has thrown his support behind opponents of Belo Sun Mining’s (TSX: BSX) proposed $300-million Volta Grande gold project in Brazil, adding a high-profile voice to a permitting dispute surrounding what the Canadian company aims to develop as the country’s largest open-pit gold mine.
The actor and environmental activist criticized the project on his official social media accounts, focusing attention on the planned mine in Pará state and concerns about its potential effects on the surrounding region.
His intervention comes as Brazilian prosecutors and the country’s National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) seek to overturn a recent court ruling that was favourable to Belo Sun in its efforts to advance the project’s permitting process.
The dispute underscores the challenge Belo Sun faces in moving Volta Grande forward in an environmentally and socially sensitive area near Indigenous communities. Mining projects in Brazil can spend five to 10 years securing permits, while opposition to new developments has intensified amid greater scrutiny of the industry.
Not DiCaprio’s first time
DiCaprio’s involvement brings international attention to a dispute that has largely centred on Brazilian courts, regulators and communities near the proposed mine.
The actor has a long history of supporting environmental and Indigenous causes in the Amazon, as well as others across the globe.
DiCaprio first visited the area surrounding the Xingu River over 20 years ago. Since then, he co-founded Re:wild, an organization that aims to protect biodiversity and Indigenous communities, and kept in touch with one of Brazil’s most influential Indigenous leaders, Chief Raoni Metuktire.
DiCaprio’s latest intervention follows New York Climate Week, where organizations and activists came together for a call to action against Belo Sun’s Amazon project.
“Listen to the Indigenous communities that are saying no to this project,” Indigenous activist and filmmaker Juma Xipaya said at the event, according to g1. “We learned to listen to the florist, She teaches us. And that’s why we know how to maintain global climate: by stopping projects like Belo Sun’s”.
Permit battle
The more immediate hurdle for Belo Sun is in the courts, where prosecutors and FUNAI are seeking to suspend provisional relief granted to Belo Sun until a final, unappealable judgment is reached in the underlying case.
They argue further studies are required and Indigenous communities must still be consulted over the project. They are asking for a suspension of provisional relief, and that the suspension remain in place “until a final, unappealable judgment is reached in the underlying case.”
The case is now under analysis of the president of Brazil’s Supreme Court, with no schedule for a decision to be made yet, g1 reported.
What Belo Sun had to say
Belo Sun said in a statement to g1 that the video posted by DiCaprio contains wrong information about the project.
The company went over the video claims, especially those focused on the Indigenous aspect of the project. It said that the project is not in protected Indigenous lands, and that it received licenses after over a decade of technical, environmental and social studies of the region, they said.
They also said they had received formal statements from Indigenous communities Juruna and Arara acknowledging they were consulted, approving the studies conducted by Belo Sun and supporting the licenses.
Belo Sun said that the Volta Grande project is a major development opportunity for the region, creating jobs, training, money for the municipalities and investments in infrastructure and social programs for surrounding communities.
The dispute comes as Brazilian authorities face heightened scrutiny over mining and environmental regulation. MINING.COM has also reported on the country’s efforts to remove illegal gold miners from Indigenous territory in the Amazon, highlighting the wider tensions surrounding gold extraction, Indigenous lands and environmental protection in the region.
The outcome could determine how the permitting process proceeds and whether the company can maintain momentum on one of Brazil’s most closely scrutinized proposed gold developments.
Source: https://www.mining.com/dicaprio-joins-opposition-to-belo-suns-300m-brazil-mine/
