Land Use And Cover Change Caused By Mining In The Municipality Of Ipixuna-Pa
International Journal of Development Research
Land Use And Cover Change Caused By Mining In The Municipality Of Ipixuna-Pa
Received 03rd December, 2018; Received in revised form 16th January, 2019; Accepted 09th February, 2019; Published online 31st March, 2019
Copyright © 2019, Gustavo Francesco de Morais Dias. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Mining is a high impact activity environmental and socially speaking. The mineral district of Capim river in the State of Pará has the largest reserve of kaolin in the Brazilian territory. The aim of this study is to identify changes in land use and cover caused by the modifications in the way of ore prospecting in the municipality of Ipixuna-PA from 2004 to 2014 and to analyze potential impacts on natural resources due to these changes in land and the lack of compliance by the company. Data from the TerraClass Project and the United States Geological Survey were used. In 2004 the mining area was 439.70 ha (0.08%) and in 2014 was 1131.19 ha (0.22%), an increase of 157.26%. Regarding the values of the production of unprocessed and processed kaolin in the state of Pará, it was verified that from 2004 to 2014 there was an increase of 28.24% in the gross production of kaolin in the area that is the focus of this study. The company Imerys Rio CapimCaulim's lack of compliance with the Brazilian environmental laws has compelled the regulatory organization to act in a way which only the company has had benefits despite environmental and social aspects, typical of the current discussion of modernity.
