How much illegal Amazonian gold is in your phone? | Unreported World

For Unreported World, Guillermo Galdos follows Brazilian Federal Police cracking down on illegal mining in protected indigenous regions, and the network of companies dealing in the precious metal.

Brazil exports a hundred tonnes of gold a year and evidence is emerging that suggests almost half of Brazil’s gold trade comes from an illegal source.

But according to police documents obtained by the investigative journalism agency Repórter Brasil, Brazilian Federal Police, have accused a major international gold trader of buying millions of dollars of gold from a Brazilian company they suspect of sourcing its gold from the protected Kayapo indigenous territory.

Unreported World gained exclusive access to the federal police team leading that investigation, which could have implications for big tech companies using gold in their products.

Galdos also travels to the Kayapo indigenous territory to investigate the impact of gold mining on their community. Despite the money being made by mining bosses, most who do the actual mining are also impoverished. Galdos encounters illegal miners who say they’ve been mining for 30 years but earn just enough money to survive. Their work is wet and dirty, and a world away from what many would associate with gold. They wade through muddy water mixed with toxic mercury which increases their risk of kidney failure and serious neurological problems. Meanwhile local villages struggle to contend with increasing levels of disease, and a poisoned food supply.

Director: Helene Cacace & Mauricio Monteiro Filho
Series Producer: Andy Lee
Executive Producer: Ed Fraser
Production Company: Channel 4 News

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