Episode Details

Brazil’s federal police are deploying cutting-edge forensic tech to crack down on illegal Amazon gold mining, using a new Brasília lab to create a “gold fingerprint” that traces stolen gold to protected or Indigenous lands. Since 2019, advanced tools like X-ray fluorescence spectrometry help prove illegal origins, turning seized gold into courtroom evidence. As gold prices soar, criminals increasingly launder illegal gold through legal channels, exploiting fake mining permits — a “ghost mine” scam. Courts are now forcing banks and agencies to tighten gold tracking, while prosecutors sue regulators over permit abuse. The contamination from mercury used in illegal mining poisons rivers and Indigenous communities, and while Brazil has pledged to ban mercury, the fight to enforce it continues — a move that would also sharpen the forensic lab’s ability to expose crime.

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