Brazil: Emergency aid in the struggle against gold mining

Hundreds of Indigenous women from different peoples of the middle Xingu River region in Brazil – including the Arara, Juruna, Kuruaya, Xikrin, and Xipaya – are camped in protest outside the regional office of FUNAI, the Indigenous affairs authority, in Altamira, Pará. They are demanding that the mining permit granted to the Canadian company Belo Sun Ltda. be revoked.

Belo Sun plans to mine gold along the Xingu River. To make this possible, Brazil’s largest open-pit gold mine would be carved into the Amazon rainforest. That would mean blasting and excavating 620 million tons of soil and rock from the rainforest floor to extract just a few tons of gold. The cost would be immense – for the forest, for the river, and for the health, safety, and way of life of local communities.

“We want Belo Sun gone from here. We are afraid of the pollution, of the chemicals they will use, of the toxins.” 

–Sol Juruma, an Indigenous woman

Sol Juruma fears contamination of the waters of the Xingu, the fourth-largest tributary of the Amazon, from mining and the vast tailings ponds planned directly on the riverbank.

The women leaders say that the Indigenous peoples of the region were neither consulted by the authorities about the project nor gave their consent, as required by International Labour Organization Convention 169. More information is available here.

Since February 23, 2026, the Indigenous women have have remained in Altamira, far from their villages, enduring blazing equatorial sun and tropical downpours. To keep the camp going, they urgently need support for:

• food
• blankets, mats, tents
• hygiene supplies
• health care
• transport

Rainforest Rescue is supporting the protest camp of the Indigenous women with donations from our emergency relief fund. Stand with the women of the Xingu. Help keep their camp going and their resistance strong by making a donation today.