LDN - Business

In Brazil, mining giant Vale is sued over metal contamination found in Indigenous peoples

[February 26, 2025] By FABIANO MAISONNAVE

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office is suing the giant mining company Vale, the Brazilian government and the Amazon state of Para over heavy metal contamination in the bodies of Xikrin Indigenous people.

The civil lawsuit, filed Friday and disclosed this week, alleges contamination from Vale's nickel mining at the Onca-Puma site, with the Catete River carrying mine pollution into Indigenous territory. In 2022, the company and the Xikrin reached an agreement for monthly compensation, but it did not cover health issues, according to the prosecution.

A study by the Federal University of Para, conducted last spring in villages in the Xikrin do Catete Indigenous Territory, found dangerously high levels of heavy metals, including lead, mercury and nickel, in the hair of virtually all the 720 people surveyed. Fearing contamination in the river water, the Xikrin are using bottled water for their children and buying fish from municipal markets.

In one extreme case, a 19-year-old woman had nickel levels 2,326% above the safe limit, according to the study. If untreated, heavy metal poisoning can lead to brain damage and organ failure.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office, responsible for protecting Indigenous rights, is demanding that Vale establish a permanent health monitoring program for the community. It also calls on the state of Para, which granted the environmental license, and the federal government, which oversees Indigenous public health policies, to provide technical and administrative support and ensure proper environmental oversight.

“The situation of the Xikrin do Catete is a true humanitarian tragedy and requires an urgent response from the Brazilian judiciary. Inaction would only add to the suffering of the Indigenous community, who face daily contamination in their own environment,” the lawsuit states.

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An activist covered in mud poses with a sign that reads “Vale assassin” during a demonstration in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Feb. 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)

In a statement, Vale said experts appointed by a federal court had determined that its operations were not responsible for contaminating the Catete River and that it monitors water quality around its mining sites. The company added that it provides funding for health initiatives and offers additional healthcare services to the Xikrin.

Para's environmental agency said in a statement that it signed an agreement with Vale in 2024 “to mitigate the socio-environmental impacts of the Onca-Puma nickel mine’s activities.” Brazil's Ministry of Health did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.

In November, Para's capital, Belem, will host the United Nations climate conference known as COP30. Vale is building one of the largest infrastructure projects for the conference, Parque da Cidade, or City Park, of about 50 hectares (123 acres).

The mining company was responsible for two of Brazil’s most devastating environmental disasters, in 2015 and 2019, when waste dams collapsed in Minas Gerais state. The disasters killed 291 people and contaminating hundreds of miles of waterways.

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