Urgent divestment in Belo Sun Mining Corp is needed to protect the Amazon and its peoples!

Belo Sun Corp has established a gold mining company in Brazil, with plans to expand its mining operations to 120 square kilometers right next to the Xingu River in the Amazon basin. The environmental impact of the mining, using cyanide and other toxic chemicals, has already been devastating to local Indigenous communities and the proposed expansion of their gold mining operations poses an even greater threat. Should the proposed tailings ponds fail, the toxic waste residue would reach the Xingu river in 7 minutes. “Belo Sun’s gold mining project Volta Grande do Xingu. The proposed project would be in Altamira, in the State of Pará, and would generate more than 35 million cubic meters of residues.” (Soares. I., 2021)

Belo Sun is already under fire for lying to their investors about the level of consultation with Indigenous stakeholders and environmental threat. We are asking Toronto Dominion Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to stop investing in Belo Sun, (miningwatch.org 2022) to send a clear message that environmental destruction is not good business, however profitable. No amount of money is worth contributing to unethical, unsustainable and exploitative practices that contribute to climate change and threaten Indigenous communities that rely on the land and the Xingu river for their way of life. This is a time when we need to collectively be looking for sustainable solutions and honouring Indigenous land rights. 

Big bank investors must divest from practices that compromise human rights and environmental preservation now.  

This petition will be shared with Toronto Dominion Bank and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) once it reaches its goal number of signatures. 

Sources:

Soares. I., (2021) “It will be potentially more dangerous than the mud we saw in Mariana”: International seminar held by the Federal University of Pará warns of the dangers of the Volta Grande (Belo Sun) mining project in Xingu. International Rivers.org. https://www.internationalrivers.org/news/it-will-be-potentially-more-dangerous-than-the-mud-we-saw-in-mariana-international-seminar-held-by-the-federal-university-of-para-warns-of-the-dangers-of-the-volta-grande-belo-sun/

FRIENDS OF MININGWATCH. (2022) Miningwatch Canada. https://miningwatch.ca/news/2022/2/22/canadian-investors-injected-over-us-2-billion-mining-companies-history-human-rights

Photo Credit: November 9, 2019 | Jacob Lorinc | The Star
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