Mining | Who's Who Introduction | Leading
Mines| Brazil - Mining Introduction |
|
Mining | Who's Who Introduction | Leading
Mines |
Greenstone belts in Brazil's extensive Archaean shield, similar to those in Canada and South Africa, host extensive gold deposits. Gold was first discovered in 1552, but significant production did not begin until after 1700 at alluvial deposits in Minas Gerais, Goias and Mato Grosso provinces.
Output was around 16 tonnes (0.5 million oz) by 1750, making Brazil the world's largest producer, but then declined.
In 1835 the Mineracao Morro Velho mine opened in Minas Gerais; it is the world's oldest continually worked mine, now owned by AngloGold, who also have a 50% share in the Serra Grande mine.
Apart from Morro Velho and limited alluvial output in the Amazon basin, output did not rise above 10 tonnes (0.3 million oz) until 1980. Then the high gold price prompted an immense gold rush of garimpeiros, who located rich alluvial deposits along the Rio Tapajos and Rio Madeira and in the regions of Cuiaba, Cumaru, Alta Floresta and, above all, at Serra Pelada ('Hill of Gold' in Portuguese) south of Belem in the Amazon delta. Serra Pelada alone produced 13 tonnes (0.4 million oz) in 1983. Production peaked at a record 102 tonnes (3.3 million oz) in 1988, of which 70% came from garimpos.
Garimpeiros played
an important role in the development of
mining in Brazil (Credit: World Gold Council)
The best alluvial deposits, however, were soon worked out and through the 1990s the balance shifted to formal mining as Brazilian groups, such as CVRD, and foreign mines such as Rio Tinto, TVX Gold, and Eldorado Gold developed mines. By 1993 their output exceeded garimpos.
