When the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, the world’s biggest, was designated 30 years ago, the Brazilian army cleared out the illegal gold miners operating there. Today, miners are back in force, ...

Drawn by high gold prices, reduced state and federal oversight, and outdated mining legislation, plus pro-mining rhetoric and proposed legislation from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro that would ...

Illegal miners have long encroached on Yanomami lands, but this has escalated in recent years. Clashes between illegal miners and Indigenous communities are not uncommon in northern Brazil but recent ...

Map of gold mining in the Yanomami Indigenous Land in December 2020 (Source: SMGI; Image courtesy of Hutukara Associação Yanomami and the Wanassedume Associação Ye’kwana via Courthouse News) Map of ...

The scorching Amazon sun beats down as a group of agents inspect the body of a black helicopter. Nearby, in the backyard of the federal police headquarters in the city of Boa Vista, Brazil, sit more ...

Here in Roraima state, where all gold mining is illegal, they are essential for transporting prospectors and equipment to far-flung Indigenous reserves, including Brazil’s largest, Yanomami.

BOA VISTA, Brazil (AP) — The scorching Amazon sun beats down as agents inspect the body of a black helicopter. Nearby, in the backyard of the federal police headquarters in the city of Boa Vista, sit ...