Entre bamburros, brefos e trechos: um estudo etnográfico sobre a garimpagem de ouro na região do Tapajós

Abstract

Artisanal and small-scale mining has been carried out in the Tapajós region for at least seven decades. As a result of this sector, there has been a complex process of human occupation consolidated in a network of communities oriented around the gold economy. Historical problems of conflicts with indigenous populations, mercury pollution, illegal mining, environmental pollution and precarious work have become adjectives for gold mining in the region, which is a contradiction to the financial values mobilized annually by this economy. The central aim of this thesis is to analyze how the production models of gold mining in the Tapajós region are currently structured, with the consolidation of the use of backhoe technology and automated dredges in the gold mining process. It also looks at how working relationships and conditions are developed in the region's gold mines, seeking to understand the technical knowledge, trajectories and migratory flows of the workers. This is an anthropological study, based on the methodological resources of ethnography, with participant observation, photography, field notes and in-depth interviews with fifty workers at different stages of the gold production chain. As a result, we observed profound transformations in the structures of gold mining over the years and a significant change in the level of capital investment and the application of mechanization in gold mines. It is understood that this movement has been driven by the growing value of gold on the international market, and as a consequence has increased the capacity to generate impacts on the environment, as large areas and deeper levels of soil are mined without the control of public bodies. With regard to the workers, it can be seen that the labor force working in the garimpo is made up of migrants, with a predominance of workers from various cities in the state of Maranhão. It can be seen that the informality and illegality of the activity in the region makes gold workers vulnerable, and at any sign of crisis in the sector, illness or old age, they immediately suffer the economic and social impacts.