"Eradicating illegal mining requires, in addition to repressing and expelling the individuals and organizations involved in this criminal practice, preventing access to the internal and external gold markets and making middle-men and buyers criminally responsible," Ibram said. (Reporting by Roberto Samora; Additional reporting by Marcela Ayres; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Richard Chang)
By Roberto Samora
SAO PAULO, March 30 (Reuters) - Brazil's Revenue Service
on Thursday mandated electronic invoices for gold trade when
bullion is declared as a financial asset or foreign exchange
instrument, a rule aimed at curbing illegal wildcat mining.
The measure, effective July 3, comes as the new government
doubles down on efforts to combat the humanitarian crisis of the
Yanomami people caused by illegal mining in their territory. It
would also restore the enforcement of environmental protection
relaxed by the former government.
The measure is set to allow trade operations using gold to
be audited using technological tools.
"This is a very important step to avoid the financial
promotion of illegal gold mining activities in regions such as
the Amazon," said Raul Jungmann, director-president of the
Brazilian Mining Institute (Ibram), in a statement.
The illegal gold extraction is at the base of a series of
criminal actions that also affect the country's mining sector
with "unfair competition," he noted.
Brazil registered 52.8 tonnes of gold with serious
indications of illegality in 2021, data from non-governmental
organization Instituto Escolhas showed. The amount represents
54% of national production. Around 20% of Brazilian gold had no
declared origin in that year, Ibram said, citing National Mining
Agency data.
More actions need to be taken, said Ibram, which represents
gold miners like AngloGold Ashanti and Yamana Gold , and other large miners like Vale , Rio Tinto and BHP .
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