The hole is so large and deep that, from afar, trucks look like ants. The little dots shuttle from side to side, loaded and organized in an unending queue. Close-up, they are actually huge 21-feet tall, 26-feet wide and 43-feet long monsters. Just its wheels are about 9 feet high, or the height of two Beetles one on top of the other. Welcome to Carajás, the giant crater regarded as the largest open air iron mine on this planet.

Trucks that look like ants from afar are actually huge, with 9 feet high wheels, the height of almost two Beetles, piled on one another

The main center for the extraction of iron ore in Brazil is located within the Carajás National Forest, in the Southeast portion of the state of Pará. It is actually an excavation project conducted by a company called Vale right in the midst of a conservation area of 411 thousand hectares. To reach a point where one can actually see the excavations, it is necessary to traverse more than 35 km (21.7 miles) of jungle, one of the few in the Amazon Rainforest that still withstands the destruction caused by the spreading of livestock breeding and logging companies in the region. The reservation is located right within the Deforestation Arc, a frontier that earned this name from the speed in which trees are felled. Around the Carajás National Forest, the landscape is dotted with numerous coal producing ovens, piles of felled tree trunks and wild pastures.

This is not to say that the scenery from the top of the observation point of cluster N5, one of five opened in Carajás is something beautiful to behold. In the heart of the forest, trees are replaced by a rusty-colored gravel-strewn ground that crushes to powder in one’s hands. Surrounding this scenario you’ll see mountains of dirt and iron in hues that vary from black, red, brown and yellow. This is a surreal scenario. Those trucks, each of which can carry 240 tons, are truly relentless in their back and forth routines. Even at night, under the floodlights that are solar powered by day, workers maintain the steady pace of extraction. A neverending activity to fuel Brazil’s exports of iron ore to North America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Trains reach up to 3.9 km (2.5 miles) in length and fatal accidents are not few or far apart, involving men and animals alike, throughout the 892 km (554 mile) journey

Transportation is yet another challenge. From the township of Paraupebas in Pará, where the forest reservation and the mine are located, the ore is transported over those 892 km by the Carajás railway up to the port of Itaqui, in São Luis, in the state of Maranhão, where it is then routed abroad. To see this long railway convoy pass is, no doubt, an impressive scene to witness, just as it was to see those trucks as high as houses. The seemingly interminable line of some 330 cargo wagons overloaded with iron ore stretches for more than 3.9 km (2.5 miles), each pulled by 4 locomotives distributed along the train convoy. In 1997, when Vale was privatized, the railway began to be controlled by the company thanks to a 30-year grant, which may be renewed for another 30 years.

Environment protection

The Ipomoea Cavalcantei is an endangered small red flower. It is actually one of the plants that belong to the metal-tolerant savanna, a typical vegetation of the rocky regions with high iron concentrations, such as Carajás. This flower and several other species are endemic or, in other words, they only exist in that region. Therefore, they are threatened by the constant increase in the rate in which iron is extracted. At the same time in which Vale, through its partnership with the Chico Mendes Institute for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMBio), has a decisive role in preserving the Carajás National Forest, it is also responsible for the extinction that is underway, impacting the entire ecosystem – even with such measures that include the release of seed packs from helicopters to try to recover the areas destroyed from iron extraction.

“This is a delicate environmental issue. The metal-tolerant savannah is very rare and was basically extinct in Minas Gerais. Presently, it is threatened by this model of exploiting the totality of all resources with the greatest possible efficiency and speed. In environmental terms, it would be a very bad thing if extinction actually occurred”, says Frederico Drummond Martins, representative of ICMBio, responsible for the Carajás National Forest. He is the one who coordinates a team of only 13 employees which are responsible for watching over one million hectares of forest. If it wasn’t for the support offered by Vale, the public agency would encounter difficulties in monitoring the entire region. There are five conservation units distributed around the mine out in the open, which resist the pressure that comes from livestock breeding.

“A satellite image clearly shows the contrast between the deforested area and the surrounding forest. The Deforesting Arc swept through the region in a very aggressive manner”, sums up Martins, who praises the support offered by the company, with some reserves. “Mining is an organized process, unlike livestock breeding. It does have an impact, but it is very targeted. The jungle area is replaced by a mine and that’s it. That is one aspect. On the other hand, mining will bring a very great migratory influx, which establishes itself in the surrounding cities, creating pressure in the area around the mine, aside from hunting, deforesting and fires”, says he.

 

From above, it’s possible to clearly see the difference between the areas still preserved and those destroyed by the Deforesting Arc.

He is critical with regard to the model of iron extraction adopted in the region. “A project of this magnitude offers benefits for Brazil. It generates value and jobs, and that is unquestionable; but from the distribution standpoint, there are problems. We have a fabulous natural wealth, copper reserves, as well as manganese, and all of this is very concentrated. We do not see the distribution of the wealth generated”, he counters. “These resources could be under greater social control, and better distributed. In order to take advantage of the market moment, the exploitation has to be very intense, and there is no concern over strategy and planning in the long run. There is also the environmental issue, the threat of extinction with this exploitation model which targets the sum total of the resources available and with greater efficiency”, says he in closing.

Exploitation

The person in charge for the preservation of the Carajas National Forest is not the only one to put his finger on the problems, referring to the manner in which the ores have been extracted in the region. The growing speed with which Vale has sent Brazilian iron ore abroad and the sums involved in exports have drawn the attention of authorities. In march, during an event in São Paulo, the country’s Vice President, José Alencar, compared the extraction of ore to the exploitation of oil, and defended that Vale should pay royalties.

“The Constitution clearly foresees that the subsoil belongs to the Union. Mining should be awarded the same treatment as oil prospecting. Iron ore mining should receive the same treatment, however it doesn’t pay anything, not a single royalty, while oil does, and quite a lot”, says he. “We have exported iron ore in great quantities. There must be some royalty charged over this ore, so that we can develop the regions which are compelled to produce iron ore. Everyone knows what these regions become after a time”, said he (listen to the vice-president).

Vale says that it constantly contributes towards the sustainable development of the territories in which it conducts its business, and says that “in 5 years the social and environmental investment in the area grew almost 400%”. According to data supplied by the company, between 2005 and 2009, almost US$ 3 billion were destined for social and environmental projects. In the city neighboring the largest open air iron mine in the world, criticisms abound. The mayor of Paraupebas, Darci Lermen, complains that the numbers disclosed by the company do not correspond to the real volume of exploitation, and has been suing the company now for years in order to bring in more tax money. Tirelessly, he has been repeating that “there is no real inspection, since the company is the one that discloses its own sales figures” and that he “likes Vale so much that he would prefer it to be a government company once again.”

Social responsibility

The main tax paid by the company is the Financial Compensation for Exploitation of Mineral Resources (CFEM). Controversy regarding the payment of this tax, however, has taken the National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM) to sue the company. In an interview to “IG” the entity’s general-director, Miguel Nery, even spoke of cancelling the mining company’s mining rights due to tax evasion.

A former governor of Maranhão regrets that the company doesn’t have to pay taxes for the tons of iron that cross the State on a daily basis

The former governor of Maranhão, Dr. Jackson Lago (PDT) complains that due to the Kandir Law, of 1996, the company is exempted from the Tax Over Circulation of Merchandise and Services (ICMS) for the State through which the ore is transported. “40 years ago they used to say that Maranhão would not be a poor state because of the Carajás Project. But what is this project today? A mine in Pará, a 900 km railway that ends in the Itaqui Port, in São Luis, which is the closest port to Europe and the US, and that’s all. This ore crosses Maranhão and, thanks to the Kandir Law, it is free of ICMS. Not a single cent remains here”, says Lago. “These projects have not improved in any way the quality of life of our inhabitants. We do wish for major enterprises, but with greater social responsibility”, said he. The company alleges that it has been constantly investing and that, only in 2009, it destined US$ 1.224 billion dollars in the State, of which US$ 26.3 million went to social and environmental investments. It also highlighted the fact that the projects it develops generated some 3,400 jobs at construction sites. (Translation Robert Rajabally)

* Daniel Santini is a reporter and studies international journalism at PUC-SP. He went to Carajás in January 2009 by invitation of the organizers of the Carajás Social Forum, an event that preceded the World Social Forum, which brought together intellectuals, journalists and representatives of social movements of more than 20 different countries around the debate on the region’s problems and perspectives.