Brazilian Supreme Court halts permit for large Amazon gold mine project

In a decision announced by Chief Justice Edson Fachin, Brazil's Supreme Court revoked the installation license for Belo Sun Mining Corp.'s Volta Grande gold project in Pará state. The court concluded the firm had not fully complied with environmental regulations nor secured adequate consultation with Indigenous peoples, as required by Brazilian law and ILO Convention 169. The mine, planned on the Xingu River near the massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, would involve extracting 3.52 million ounces of gold and moving over 600 million tons of material.

Critics, including Sol Juruna of the Middle Xingu Indigenous Women’s Movement, fear that a waste-dam holding 35 million cubic meters could leak toxic substances, threatening downstream communities already suffering reduced river flows and fish declines. FUNAI identified missing studies on cumulative impacts, especially for Indigenous groups outside officially demarcated territories. While the suspension is temporary pending further legal steps, the Alliance for the Volta Grande do Xingu welcomed the ruling as a victory for Indigenous and environmental advocates.