
Yanomami child playing in a river
photo: Barbara Crane Navarro
« My grandparents fished to feed the community in this river. Now it’s just sludge, gasoline, diesel and mercury contamination. Fish die and our Yanomami land is dying.
We Yanomami suffer, we don’t have peace. The gold miners destroy our houses (Yanopë), destroy our forest (Urihi), destroy our spirituality of the shaman and spirits of the forest (Xapori and Ayakora).
The gold miners took everything, our safety & our health. »
- Júnior Herurari Yanomami

Dredging barges used by illegal gold miners in Indigenous territory
photo: Divulgação
Two Yanomami children, 7 and 5 years old, drowned when they were pulled underwater by the powerful pumps on a dredging barge used for illegal gold mining on the Parima river in Roraima, Brazil. The boys had been playing in the river about 300 meters from their home village.

Yanomami children in the contaminated river near their home
photo: Reprodução/Twitter @Dario_Kopenawa
Yanomami families use the rivers and streams near their communal home for drinking water, bathing and cooking. The invasion of Yanomami territory by thousands of gold miners is leaving forests devastated as well as rivers and fish poisoned by the toxic mercury used in the gold mining process. The illegal gold mining dredges run on diesel fuel that contaminates the atmosphere with smoke and fumes.
The vice president of the Hutukara Yanomami Association, Dario Kopenawa, stated that over 20,000 gold miners are prospecting illegally in the territory where 25,000 Yanomami live, polluting the rivers with mercury used to separate the gold from mud and sand. The community told him that dredging activity for mining “shakes the land and river,” creating waves and sullying the water.
The current gold rush in the Amazon region is detailed in eloquent images here in this report (text in English / Portuguese): report

Deforestation and contamination by gold miners in Indigenous territory
photo: ISA
This madness must stop!
Please help end the cycle of deforestation and devastation!
The consumption of this unnecessary, environment-ravaging product fueled by publicity that attempts to convince the gullible that owning gold confers glamor or worth must end!
The power and responsibility lies with us, the consumers. If we purchase gold or other products from deforestation, we’re complicit.
Please boycott all products from deforestation; gold, palm oil, beef, soy, exotic wood, gem stones, etc.!
Please purchase locally-sourced, in-season items that aren’t transported from 3000 kilometers away!
For more details regarding the merchandising of gold using the Yanomami and trees, please see here:
The DEATH of NATURE for Gold and Diamond Merchandise – The ART of Greenwashing by the Luxury Merchants of the Death of Nature and Indigenous Peoples…in their own words… updated 2021
So sorry to hear that. Deforestation must stop. Thank you 🌍
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Thank you! Yes, it’s horrible! The quote from a Yanomami man in the midst of this terrible invasion of gold miners in their territory is heartbreaking.
The only way we can help them and other indigenous people is to boycott all products from deforestation!
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In a way it’s going to the case if we want COP27 to succeed.
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Pingback: « My grandparents fished to feed the community in this river. Now it’s just sludge, gasoline, diesel and mercury contamination. Fish die and our Yanomami land is dying. – The gold miners took everything, our safety and our health. » — Barbara Cra
Pingback: « My grandparents fished to feed the community in this river. Now it’s just sludge, gasoline, diesel and mercury contamination. Fish die and our Yanomami land is dying. – The gold miners took everything, our safety and our health. » — Barbara Cra
Oh gosh that’s so sad Barbara about those kids drowning in the river, makes me weep for their parents
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It breaks my heart. Thank you for caring.
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A scene of absolute devastation in these pictures
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Rampant gold mining is destroying ancestral cultures before our eyes. And it’s not only happening to the Yanomami. The Munduruku and other Indigenous Nations are also dealing with the same issues.
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Pingback: « The great soul of the forest is in peril! – The people of the forest are calling to you. – It is a cry of the Yanomami people, it is a cry of the earth. – We are calling for help! » | Barbara Crane Navarro