Brazil and French Guiana coordinating to combat illegal mining

Brazil and French Guiana are planning to coordinate and ramp up measures to combat illegal mining.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G7 meetings in Italy to discuss collaboration between the countries in combating illegal mining in Brazil and the French department. 

French Guiana borders the northern Brazilian state of Amapá, a part of the country that has historically seen significant illegal mining by garimpeiros, as they are known in Brazil.

During Macron's visit to Brazil in March, "Brazil and France signed an agreement to combat threats to security and the environment, and health risks affecting the cross-border region," the Brazilian government said in a statement. 

"The parties reaffirm their commitment to cooperating at a bilateral and regional level in the Guiana shield [a geological area of northeast South America] to combat cross-border crime, especially illegal mining, and trafficking in timber and endangered species of wild fauna and flora. For this purpose, it was agreed to cooperate in the policing and intelligence and other issues of common interest," it added. 

The coordination between Brazil and France comes as large mining companies have pressed the Brazilian government to increase the fight against criminal activity in the north of the country, which has tarnished the reputation of Brazil's mining sector and also poses threats to formal mining companies that operate in areas where there are significant criminal networks.

Raul Jungmann, head of Brazilian mining association Ibram and former national defense minister, has made it one of his priorities at Ibram to call on the government to make more effort to tackle illegal mining in the north of the country.

State-run development bank BNDES is also due on Monday to sign a 320mn-real (US$61mn) contract on to support the justice ministry's actions against crime in this part of Brazil.

"In addition to investment in federal and local security professionals, intelligence and inspections will be reinforced through the acquisition and lease of equipment to combat organized crime, such as helicopters, armored boats and vehicles," the government said in a statement.