Rights groups in Brazil say British, Canadian, U.S., Brazilian and Peruvian mining companies are planning to expand operations in the Brazilian Amazon.

Brasilia, February 24 (RHC)-- Rights groups in Brazil say British, Canadian, U.S., Brazilian and Peruvian mining companies are planning to expand operations in the Brazilian Amazon.

A new report from Amazon Watch and the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples says international investors have poured $54 billion into eight large mining companies, and specifically calls out U.S.-based investors BlackRock, Vanguard and Capital Group, who have provided almost $15 billion in financing for mining companies with a history of Indigenous rights violations and toxic pollution. 

The report also identified thousands of pending mining permits that would intensify deforestation on a combined area of Indigenous lands as large as the size of England, if approved by Brazil’s mining agency.