Word: garimpeiro
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Tukanos found gold in the Serra do Traira region in 1984, the Salesians' paternalistic domain began to crumble. Soon hundreds of Indians were panning streams, only to encounter exploitation from white buyers who paid them 50% below market price for the gold. Then about 2,000 well-armed white garimpeiros (prospectors) appeared. To garimpeiros, "Indians are wild animals -- brutes," says one former prospector. A garimpeiro, he adds, "is not afraid to kill or be killed. He earns easy, spends easy." These prospectors have recently been supplanted by two powerful mining companies that have government concessions to prospect on Indian land...
...same time, however, the government offered to mediate all claim disputes, set a minimum daily wage ($18) and provided free medical care. Federal experts began to advise the miners on safety precautions and on how to increase output. Before government officials arrived, for example, many of the garimpeiros had been throwing away "black gold," an impure mixture that can be refined to yield ordinary gold and palladium, a valuable metal in its own right, as well as manganese. Says a government mining engineer: "Our job is to orient the garimpeiros. They're individualists. Many were small farmers. They know...
...same time, however, the government offered to mediate all claim disputes, set a minimum daily wage ($18) and provided free medical care. Federal experts began to advise the miners on safety precautions and on how to increase output. Before government officials arrived, for example, many of the garimpeiros had been throwing away "black gold," an impure mixture that can be refined to yield ordinary gold and palladium, a valuable metal in its own right, as well as manganese. Says a government mining engineer: "Our job is to orient the garimpeiros. They're individualists. Many were small farmers. They know...
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