Brazil’s wildcat mining is deeply rooted in its politics and thirst for minerals

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Brazil’s wildcat mining is deeply rooted in its politics and thirst for minerals

Gold mining has been a feature of the Andean Amazon since pre-Colombian times and, along with silver, it was the cornerstone of the economy in the colonial and republican periods. In Brazil, gold mining was a source of wealth for the Portuguese crown and a major diver in the colonization of Mato Grosso and Rondônia during the eighteenth century. Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana all experienced nineteenth-century gold rushes, as did Venezuela i…