SERRO, Minas Gerais — Nature has always been intrinsic to life in Queimadas, a quilombo community located in an environmental buffer zone where the Cerrado and the Atlantic forest meet. But when Brazilian mining company Herculano Mineração announced its plans to extract iron ore nearby, the community felt their ecological way of life was at risk. “They said they would go ahead whether we liked it or not,” says Valderes Quintino, 25, the community leader, about the company that first approached him in 2018. Since then, people in Queimadas have denounced mining companies applying for licenses for violations and irregularities against the community; they fear that if candidate mining projects ever get the green light, a mining race would start in Serro, while permanently damaging the region’s ecosystems and local livelihoods. Alongside other quilombo communities, Queimadas created a resistance front against the advance of mining, while advocating for their land and its environmental conservation. Part of a region considered the “water tank of Brazil,” where the Jequitinhonha, the Doce, and the São Francisco rivers meet, the municipality of Serro is part of the Pico do Itambé State Park, the Águas Vertentes Conservation Unit and the Serra do Espinhaço UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Its historical center sits about 5 kilometers from the potential mining site of Herculano Mineração. In 2018, Herculano Mineração announced its plan to extract 1 million tons of iron ore annually for 10 years. Its potential mining site covers approximately 865 hectares (2,139 acres), and is located about one…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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