The gold mining industry in Brazil: A historical overview

For the past 300 years, Brazil has been one of the most important gold producers worldwide, including the first `gold rush' of modern history. During the 18th century, an incredible amount of 1,200 tonnes was extracted with artisanal methods from the provinces of Minas Gerais, Goi ' as, Bahia and Mato Grosso. The country's first industrial mining companies were established thereafter; they stemmed mainly from English capital, located in the aforementioned provinces. During the last 120 years, industrial mining projects boomed and spread throughout Brazil, culminating in more than 80 mines with a production of around 2000 tonnes of gold. New gold-frontier areas were also consolidated in the Amazon region. The diversity of metallogenetic environments for gold deposits (e.g., orogenic, IOCG, Au-PGE, low-sulfidation epithermal, porphyry types, etc.) and the country's enormous geographic dimension hint at the possibility of great mining developments in the short and medium-term. This article presents the different phases of artisanal (garimpo) and industrial gold mining in Brazil by reviewing the country's geo-historical and production data, obtained and/or retrieved from several dispersed and restricted sources. Particular emphasis is placed upon the regional differences between gold-producing Brazilian provinces and on the roles of national and international corporations for the industry's development.

Automated summary

This article reviews the geological history and production data of gold mining in Brazil, presents the different stages of artisanal and industrial gold mining in the country, and emphasizes the regional differences between gold-producing provinces and the role of corporations in the industry's development.