It’s illegal. It’s also a shot at riches.

Open pit gold mining in the Amazon rain forest is path to a better way of life for maids, construction workers and farmhands who toil in hopes of finding a worldwide symbol of prestige and wealth: gold.

Known to Brazilians as Garimpos, these men and women work at unlicensed gold mines hidden deep inside the Amazon rain forest.

The Garimpos are often vilified in international news reports as the illegal gold mining has destroyed 1,700 kilometers of rain forest between 2003 and 2013. However, there is a human element to the story.

Gold, a valuable commodity that can be dug out of the ground, is the link for these Garimpos to the global economy and to greater wealth than they could have ever hoped for in their previous lives.

These wildcat mines are not sophisticated operations. The small crews work with basic tools to mine for gold that have been used for hundreds of years including pans, shovels and sluice boxes.

Near one frontier town called Crepurizao, miners in the area ship about 132 pounds of gold per month, according to a September 2017 article in the Independent. While that is worth millions on the global market, the high costs of basic staples in the remote areas and multiple layers of brokers in the back woods gold trading system leave most miners still living on the brink of poverty.

Professor Jeffrey Hoelle, an assistant professor of anthropology at UC Santa Barbara was part of a research project sponsored by the National Geographic Society aimed to learn more about the Amazon gold mines.

“I don’t think these guys are villains or heroes,” said Professor Hoelle. “I think they are part of the global economic system. They’re providing something that everyone, with very few exceptions, wants in some way. The miners get dirty producing this metal that makes people in faraway places shine and sparkle.”

“Many of these people are incredibly courageous to come to the rainforest to try to improve their lot in life, and many don’t ever make it out,” Professor Hoelle said.

One surprising discovery amid the destruction was the orderliness of the mining camps, Hoelle said.

In contrast to the seedy and often dangerous towns where the Garimpos went to sell their gold, the gold mining camps were relatively peaceful with a sense of structure, teamwork and trust.

“It has to be calm and orderly in the camps because you’re working with gold —something that has value from the moment you find it,” Professor Hoelle explained. “If you’re worried that someone is going to steal it or pocket a little bit of it, then it’s not going to work. You have to work in a team, and strong codes of conduct have developed in the mines over the years.

Putting It All Together

What’s unfolding in the Amazon rain forest today is a story that has been told over and over again.

For thousands of years, gold and silver have been recognized as currencies without geographical borders, a store of value and a means to build wealth.

From the ancient world of Croesus to the legendary dynasties of the Renaissance, to the American gold rush in the 19th century, to the Amazon rain forest today, man has acknowledged the intrinsic value associated with gold. And strived to own it.

The rarity of gold has always given the metal a mystical aura. There was a time when that aura felt real to most people. That time was the Middle Ages. Daily living was rife with disease. One of the more appalling ailments was lymphadenitis of the cervical lymph nodes, a disease associated with tuberculosis. Many called it “The Kings’ Evil.” Those suffering from the King’s Evil often searched for a cure from a monarch, not a doctor.

At the time it was believed that a touch from a monarch would cure the disease. One gentle touch from a sovereign of England or France promised freedom from the fever and malaise of sickness. Of course, getting this single touch wasn’t easy.

Few, if any, patients had access to such divine healers. Moreover, monarchs were fearful of catching the disease from contact. The solution: a coin. The Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Church contained a ceremony describing how patients could receive the healing touch without meeting English and French monarchs. The king or queen would instead touch a coin, then offer the piece to a sufferer.

Appropriately, the coin was called an “angel.” Edward the IV introduced the coin in 1465. The relief artwork featured the archangel Michael slaying a dragon. This image represented the triumph of good over evil. At the time, the coin carried a value of 6 to 10 shillings. The popularity of the practice kept the coins in circulation through the early 18th century. Those who were sick were instructed to place the coin against the protruding abscess that was so common to the king’s evil. Minters struck the last such coin in 1634. Some patients kept the coin close to their skin wearing it around their neck at all times.

As medicine and our understanding of diseases advanced, people began to dismiss the practice. Others, supposedly cured by their touch piece went on to live long, productive lives. One such example is Dr Samuel Johnson, who helped establish the English dictionary. He was only an infant when he felt ill and received a touch piece from Queen Anne. Soon after he recovered and remained well.

Doctors of the time were largely silent on the topic of touch pieces. It’s now widely believed that physicians understood the futility of the treatment. They kept their disbelief to themselves. As author Marc Bloch writes in his book The Royal Touch: Sacred Monarchy and Scrofula in England and France, “…the idea of king’s possessing healing powers did not enter into the international literature of medicine until the sixteenth century.” At their height the coins were immensely popular. Officials minted copper and bronze versions to keep pace with demand. They were a common sight in churches and monasteries.

Eventually, in 1714, King George I deemed the practice as nothing more than superstition. The coin became another piece of currency to fall into obscurity, and out of circulation.

If you find one today, hold on to it!

Recently the World Gold Council released a report on the relationship between gold and the natural environment. As the threat of ecological impact and global warming loom large, mining operations are seeking more efficient methods of sourcing gold. One company, Goldencorp, is at the leading edge of this trend with the “goldmine of the future.”

With new investments in technology, the company is preparing to open a mine designed to be the first all-electric underground operation. The plans include a significant departure from traditional diesel-fuelled equipment which will be replaced by Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) which are three times more efficient. Changes like this are expected to reduce annual GHG emissions by 70 percent. Moreover, without the exhaust from diesel, Goldencorp’s newest mine will require half the ventilation of a traditional mine.   

Goldencorp represents a continued shift to more ecologically responsible solutions. Other mining operations are sourcing their power from large solar panel arrays. Others have reduced their reliance on energy by using naturally-occurring geothermal properties. Mines designed this way require less heat. The Hemlo mine in Canada is an impressive example of how these designs can yield lasting results; even as the mine has expanded, it has seen relatively little change in levels of energy intensity.

Meanwhile, other mines have found ways to reduce dependence on energy with operational changes. The Kinross mining company has minimized fuel consumption with route optimization and more efficient driver training. As a result the company has saved over 15,000 hours of haulage since January of 2017.

These sweeping changes are part of an effort to align economic and ecological goals. Companies are motivated to seek energy efficiency which offers considerable savings and increased profitability. At the same time, the environmental impact from mining drops. One goal serves the other and vice versa.

Consider that for some mines fuel represents more than 20 percent of the commodity and service purchases. Even for operations that use electricity in lieu of diesel need sustainable ways to help generate wattage. The Kumtor mine in Kyrgyzstan uses hydropower supplied by local reservoirs. The result: “the mine’s specific GHG emission footprint resultant from electricity is relatively low,” according to the World Gold Council. Other companies aim to replicate this approach because analysts project the cost of solar, wind, and battery storage to drop by 50-70 percent by 2040.

With so many mining companies taking the initiative to develop more environmentally conscious methods some are hopeful that other industries will take note and introduce similar measures. In the meantime, companies like Goldencorp are leading the way.

These changes should buoy gold investors’ confidence that their decision to own the metal has favorable influences on the planet. As experts at the World Gold Council concluded, their research “suggests gold may have positive implications for long-term investors in helping them manage the carbon footprint of their portfolios over time.”