Orinoco Mining Arc Media

Declared in 2016, the largest mining project in Venezuela spans over 110,800 square kilometers affecting multiple indigenous nations, ecosystems, ocean outflow and regional economies. LACCCB 2018 hosted the first public forum for international scientific discussion on the issue.

Media related to the Orinoco Mining Arc will continue to be consolidated on this page.

We invite you to view the resulting CONFERENCE STATEMENT, prepared by attendees of LACCCB 2018 after the presentation of the symposium “An Insight into the Orinoco Mining Arc: its implications for Venezuela and the eastern Caribbean”, organized by the Venezuelan Society of Ecology, and voted on at the LACA member’s meeting.

View the Background section of this page for information published on circumstances surrounding the Orinoco Mining Arc

View the Post Conference Media section for information published after LACCCB 2018 in relation to the conference statement.

 

Background

Mining arc Symposium at LACCCB 2018

Explora Magazine: June 2018 edition

Explore implications for the Mining Arc through this beautifully photographed 232 page expose of the ecosystems and people of the region.

Infoamazonia/Correa del caroni collaboration

Reporter Bram Ebus takes us on a media-rich journey through recent changes in the Mining Arc. This piece is winner of the 2018 Al Neuharth Innovation in Investigative Journalism Award. 

 
 
 
Looted amazon article image.jpg

SOS Orinoco latest updates

The purpose of Project SOSOrinoco is to shed light on the existing body of work regarding the situation in the Amazonas and Orinoco regions of Venezuela

Virtual Seminar

Seminario virtual "El Arco Minero del Orinoco: Un riesgo sin precedentes para Venezuela"

Amazon Illegal mining reaches epidemic proportions

InfoAmazonia and RAISG join forces to Present media-rich insight including New survey data revealing the existence of more than 2000 points and 200 illegal mining areas in six Amazonian countries. December 10, 2018

 
 

Post Conference Media

THE VENEZUELAN MINING ARC. ECOCIDE OR SUICIDE?

“El Arco Minero Ecocide or Suicide?” is a short documentary (Spanish with English subtitles). Winner of 2022 AMAZINE, the 1st "Marc de Civrieux" International short film competition on Venezuelan Amazonia and third-place winner of the 2021 Yale Environment 360 Video Contest

March 31, 2024

Statement by SOSOrinoco on the United States’ decision to grant a 6-month OFAC license to Minerven CA

The governments of the US, Canada, UK, and serious gold refiners have no way of overseeing, nor knowing what is going on inside Minerven CA. SOSOrinoco suggests that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is mistaken to think that lifting sanctions is going to reduce unsustainable mining and smuggling of “Blood Gold” and other minerals. October 20, 2023

USAID Venezuela FAA118/119 Tropical Forest and Biodiversity Analysis Report

This work was conducted by an Environmental Incentives led team with support from a team of Venezuelan consultants and in close collaboration with the USAID Venezuela Operating Unit. The Environmental Incentives team was led by Tamia Souto, Juan Carlos Martínez-Sánchez and Nate Graham. The team of Venezuelan consultants and experts included Vilisa Morón Zambrano (Sociedad Venezolana de Ecología), Eduardo Klein (Universidad Simón Bolívar), Panfilo Masciangioli, Cristina Burelli, and the SOSOrinoco Team, Disleydis Petit (Universidad Central de Venezuela), Genesis Yanes (Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas), Mercedes Castro (Facultad de Agronomía de la Universidad Central de Venezuela) and many other Venezuelan professionals who for safety reasons prefer not to disclose their names.

Mining footprint in Venezuelan Amazonia: A Storymap by SOSOrinoco

Since 2018, SOSOrinoco has been mapping the “footprint” being created by mining operations in Venezuela’s Amazonia/Guayana on a vast territory encompassing almost half of the country. This territory is habitat to 27 different indigenous groups, is home to an amazing richness of fauna and flora species having global relevance, holds most of Venezuela’s fresh water reserves and possesses great hydroelectric potential, upon which the country depends. 

“The footprint (that we are constantly updating and mapping) created by mining operations, especially gold mines, is not limited just to directly-impacted areas consisting of more than 69,000 hectares to date - and if we include our Esequibo territory, would surpass 102,000 hectares. The footprint goes beyond the land that has been denuded, its soil removed, settling pools and ponds that collect the tailings from the mines, miners’ camps and vegetation that has been irreversibly devastated, not to mention the expansive wave impact on wildlife because of poaching to provide bushmeat for miners.”

This media-rich piece highlights Imataca, Canaima Yapacana, Icabaru, Upper Orinoco, La Paragua and Caura

January 28, 2021

Is sustainable tourism possible in Bolívar and Amazonas states? Negative implications of the Mining Arc on our tourism strength

For mass tourism to exist, there must be a substantial investment in human resources, infrastructure (roads, hotels, wastewater disposal, etc.), and promotion. In addition, global competition would force them to offer products with a price-quality ratio almost impossible to match. Considering the environmental variables of the Orinoquia and the Venezuela Amazon, the only possible option is that of niche tourism or low-density tourism. The reason for that is that both in the Orinoquia and Venezuelan Amazon, acid soils predominate, and by association, they have quite vulnerable habitats, as well as high levels of endemism in their flora and fauna. See article to learn more

January 24, 2021

Self-management in local communities of the lower Caura: Towards a sustainable model of forest management through conservation agreements as an alternative to extractivism

Conservation Agreements are mechanisms that guarantee the protection of natural areas, allowing communities to make sustainable use of their resources. In the Caura National Park, specifically in the lower basin of the Caura River or North Sector, two conservation agreements exist: the Suapure Conservation Agreement (SCA) and the Tzazenai Conservation Agreement (TCA), which started in 2009 and 2014, respectively. See the article to learn more.

January 24, 2021

Impacts of illegal mining on indigenous peoples of the Venezuelan Amazon.

A summary of the social impacts that illegal mining is having on the indigenous peoples of the Amazon as follows:

  1. Occupation of indigenous territories and the engender of violence.

  2. Violation of indigenous rights, especially territorial and sociocultural.

  3. Introduction of pathogens to indigenous communities.

  4. The proliferation of malaria in areas of mining influence.7

  5. Monopolization of fuel, driving scarcity in the region.

  6. Impact on the right to education, linked to the previous cause.

  7. Impact on the right to traditional indigenous economic activities.

January 24, 2021

PREMIERE “El Arco Minero Ecocide or Suicide?”

is a short documentary (Spanish with English subtitles) - 19 mins - contrasting the unique beauty of Venezuelan Amazonia with the human and environmental devastation caused by illegal mining in Southern Venezuela. 

Produced by committed Venezuelans to this cause.

 Link: https://youtu.be/YmrtyC95ovw

 A cry for help to all the world and sign the petition to UNESCO that they include Canaima World Heritage Site on the World Heritage in Danger List:

https://www.change.org/CanaimaWorldHeritageSite

 Help us fight the media blackout on the environmental devastation and Human Rights abuses in Southern Venezuela!

 Follow us on www.SOSOrinoco.org & @SOSOrinoco (social media), make a donation

 #Ecocidioosuicidio #ArcoMinero #BloodGold #WorldHeritage 1@UNESCO @IUCN @AAzoulay @mechtildrossler

@maxar @HRF @NOPROJEKT

The outcry of Bolívar and Delta Amacuro indigenous peoples

The Warao indigenous people have lived in the waters of the Orinoco Delta for at least eight thousand years. According to the 2011 population and housing census, there are 48,771 Warao. Currently, the Orinoco River is highly polluted by mercury, cyanide, and hydrocarbons from extractive activities in Bolívar, Monagas, and even Delta Amacuro state itself. Soil with different pollutants affects agricultural indigenous territories as this does not allow them to work the land in a healthy environment. See the article to learn more

December 22, 2020

Mining predation in front of the eyes of tepuy Roraima:

Correo del Caroni, Pulitzer Center, Prodavinci and Infoamazonia Collaborate to produce a media-rich update on mining in Canaima National Park and the humanitarian crisis faced by indigenous people of the Gran Sabana

June 5, 2020

Illegal Mining, Guerrillas & Disease: The Revolution's Legacy to the Indigenous Peoples of the Upper Orinoco-Casiquiare Biosphere Reserve in Venezuela's Amazonian Region:

This is the third report prepared by the SOSOrinoco team, that has been working anonymously to date, concealing the names of its team members and witnesses, due to the level of high risk that this type of investigation currently involves in Venezuela. This report about this remote region of the Venezuelan Amazon (Alto Orinoco) is unique, due to the risk and difficulty involved in traveling to and obtaining information about Amazonas state, given the current militarization and control exercised by the Colombian guerrillas.

November 7, 2019

By SOSOrinoco

Miami and Venezuela’s gold: The Miami Herald examines international consequences of Venezuela mining.

July 23, 2019

By Antonio Maria Delgado,  Kyra Gurney,  Bram Ebus,  Jim Wyss,  Jay Weaver, and Nicholas Nehamas

Venezuela, the Smuggler’s Paradise: InfoAmazonia provides yet another Media rich and comprehensive examination of the ripple effects of Venezuela’s mining from gold mines to refugees, to effects through the Amazon, Caribbean and global international markets

July 23 2019

by Algimiro Montiel, Jorge Benezra, Bram Ebus, Antonio Maria Delgado, Jay Weaver, Jim Wyss, Kyra Gurney, Nicholas Nehamas and Pamela Kalkman

The Indigenous Mining Arc Part 2. Perspectives on Indigenous mining and the Venezuela Crisis

July 2019 by José Rafael Lozada

La Sangrienta Fiebre del Oro. Pranes, Guerrilla y Militares

The Bloody Gold Rush. Pranes, Guerrilla and Military (.pdf download. Original article in Spanish)

June 2019 by Mónica Martiz and Manuel Sánchez

Gold and Grief in Venezuela’s Violent South

Feb 28, 2019 by International Crisis Group

Desperate Venezuelans Dig Up Paradise in Search of Gold

Nov 20, 2018 by Kejal Vyas

An depth article by the Wall Street Journal discusses content of the report presented by SOSOrinoco to International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN & UNESCO in July 2018 on the current gold mining situation in Canaima National Park: A World Heritage Site in Venezuela - Click on link to read full Wall Street Journal article or view the article text and original report on which the WSJ article is based

The Indigenous Mining Arc Part 1 Perspectives on Indigenous mining and the Venezuela Crisis

October 2018 by José Rafael Lozada

The Orinoco Mining Arc’s Impact: A Conversation with Emiliano Teran Mantovani

October 10, 2018: by Cira Pascual Marquina – Venezuelanalysis.com

In-Focus: Illegal Mining Around the Globe

Sept 10, 2018: by Mark Gibson

La minería sin control pone en riesgo la cuenca del río Orinoco

August 1st 2018: by Daniel Gutman: 

This article was reprinted for the Belgium magazine: MO