Gold from Bandeirantes to Bolsonaro. On mining politics in contemporary Brazil

Gold mining is an important industry in Brazil, which divides over a few large-scale mines, but mainly many small-scale forms of extraction. The figure of the garimpeiro, who became so famous by Sebastião Salgado's photographs of Serra Pelada in the 1980s, is working less and less manually and more with excavators and in underground mines instead of the immense gaping open pit mines. The activity offers income to a large number of Brazilians, but also threatens the nature and territories of other inhabitants of the country, especially in the Amazon. Where in recent decades the government tried to regulate mining and protect nature and culture, the Bolsonaro government is introducing a different regime with regard to mining and exploitation of natural resources. What changes can we expect? What are the consequences for the garimpeiros and small-scale miners, for the inhabitants of the mineral rich regions and for the preservation of the Amazon forest?