BRAZIL
Brazil opens vast Amazon reserve to mining
By Mike Tyler
August 24, 2017 - Brazil's government has abolished a vast national reserve in the Amazon to open up the area to mining. The National Reserve of Copper and Associates (RENCA) is thought to be rich in gold and other minerals.
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The area, covering 46,000 sq km, is larger than Denmark, and about 30 percent of it will be open to mining.
The government said nine conservation and indigenous land areas within it would continue to be legally protected. Activists have voiced concern that these areas could be badly compromised.