Mining Giants Head to Amazon Rain Forest

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Wall Street Journal

December 23, 2012, 9:29 p.m. ET
. Mining Giants Head to Amazon Rain Forest

In Next Five Years, About $24 Billion Will Be Invested to Boost Production in Remote, Environmentally Sensitive Region

By JOHN LYONS and PAUL KIERNAN

BELEM, Brazil—Mining giants such as Brazil's Vale SA VALE -1.76% and U.K.-based Anglo AmericanAAL.LN -0.48% PLC are increasing efforts to extract minerals from Brazil's Amazon rain forest, a high-stakes foray into one of the world's most remote and environmentally sensitive regions.

All together, mining companies will spend some $24 billion between 2012 and 2016 to boost production of iron ore, bauxite and other metals found in the Amazon basin, according to Brazil's mining association, Ibram. Already, Brazil is attracting a fifth of all mining investment globally, and for many the Amazon represents the country's greatest untapped potential.

"The Amazon will be our California," said Fernando Coura, Ibram's president.

The push by miners into the Amazon fits with Brazil's broader strategy to tap the ain forest's natural resources to drive economic growth. Brazil is building hydroelectric dams on Amazon rivers, improving roads between far-flung Amazon towns and connecting them to the national power grid. Legal changes and government-backed lending will help pave the way for more Amazon mines.

Environmentalists are concerned the development surge may speed deforestation and overwhelm small communities in the region as the arrival of thousands of mine workers strains local infrastructure and services. world's largest remaining rain forest, roughly the size of Western Europe. Scientists say preserving the world's largest remaining rain forest and carbon sink is crucial to the global climate mix and for ensuring the survival of an estimated one-tenth of all global species.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324020804578150964211301692.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[Ash_F]

1. It's going to be said to see it go. /nt

[DFW]

2. Brazil has shown no interest in enironmental protection up to now

The Amazon will not be their California. It will be their West Virginia.

[Octafish]

9. The people of Brazil have. The ownership class, not so much.

Examples:

http://m.guardiannews.com/world/2012/feb/12/brazil-amazon-rainforest-activists-murder

http://www.pontealdia.com/editorial/editorial-murdering-defenders-of-the-amazon.html

[DFW]

12. True that.

I should have been more specific.

[vkkv]

3. Native Americans mostly ended up in reservations..

as did the Negritos of the Malaysian rainforrests.. and countless others.

Very sad the way thngs are shaping up..

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Why did I read this?

Sometimes ignorance can be bliss. This makes me so sad. Thinking of the loss of habitat for the enormous biodiversity breaks my heart.

[Selatius]

5. Somewhere, a doomsday clock on the Amazon rainforest just started ticking. nt

[triplepoint]

6. Just Watched, "Fitzcarraldo" Again Last Night

and wow...the Amazon is Amazing. Might be all we have left of it as it was. Suggest you all take a look at that movie if you've not seen it yet. "Medicine Man" is another movie that was filmed in the Amazon. And just to make your day....

Over 10,000 square miles ( 2.6 million hectares ) of the Amazon rainforest is deliberately burnt down every year to make way for soybean plantations and cattle pasture.

Don't miss, "Burden of Dreams"--the movie about the making of "Fitzcarraldo."

[Richard D]

7. Not only Brazil

A huge amount (I've heard between 80-90%) of the Peruvian Amazon has been sold off to mining and oil companies.

[ileus]

8. just what the world need, more destruction to feed mans greed.

[sulphurdunn]

10. If not stopped

global capitalism will kill everything for profit. That's the way it operates because that's the way it's designed to operate.

[kelliekat44]

11. May the wild animals have a feast there. nt