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At The Peak Of The 80s, More Than 100 Thousand Men Created A “Human Ant Hill” In Search Of Gold In Pará; Recall The Story Of Serra Pelada, A Phenomenon Of Ambition And Chaotic Engineering Without Precedents.
Imagine a crater nearly 200 meters deep, excavated not by giant machines, but by the hands and shovels of 100 thousand men working under the Amazon sun. The walls of the hole, filled with makeshift wooden steps, formed an apocalyptic scene, a “human ant hill” in constant motion. This is not a movie scene. It was the daily reality of Serra Pelada, the largest open-pit mine in the world.
Located in southeastern Pará, the Serra Pelada mine became, in the early 1980s, a symbol of the gold rush in Brazil. Men from all over the country abandoned everything in search of the promise of quick wealth, carrying bags of dirt weighing up to 40 kilos on their backs in exchange for a nugget that could change their lives. This article delves into the history, logistics, and legacy of this unbelievable chapter of the Brazilian mining industry.
How A Rumor About Gold Created A Tent City In The Jungle?
It all started modestly. In 1979, a local farmer named Genésio Ferreira da Silva hired a geologist to analyze his land in the municipality of Curionópolis, Pará. The discovery of a significant amount of gold in a stream was the spark. The news, initially whispered, spread like wildfire, triggering one of the largest mass migrations in Brazilian history.
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Within months, the previously sparsely populated region was invaded by tens of thousands of men. A city of tents and wood, with its own economy, emerged from nowhere to support the gold fever. It was the beginning of the gold rush story in Brazil in its rawest and most intense form, a lawless place driven by the hope of finding the “babilonia,” as the large nuggets were called.
How Did Work In The “Human Ant Hill” Function?
The operation of Serra Pelada defied the logic of modern engineering. The immense crater was divided into “barrancos,” small areas of 2 by 3 meters, which were explored by groups. The work structure was hierarchical. There was the “capitalist,” owner of the barranco; the “garimpeiros,” who worked in exchange for a percentage of the gold found; and the “formigas,” who only carried the dirt out of the mine for a daily payment.
The name human ant hill Serra Pelada came from the impressive sight of up to 100 thousand men going up and down simultaneously on precarious wooden steps, some over 100 meters tall. Each “ant” carried a bag of dirt weighing between 30 and 40 kilos. The risk of collapses was constant and fatal. At the top, the dirt was washed in a process called “baleado,” where luck was finally revealed in the form of gold nuggets.
How Much Gold Was Found And What Happened To It?
It is almost impossible to know for sure what happened to the gold from Serra Pelada. Officially, the former National Department of Mineral Production (DNPM) recorded the extraction of approximately 30 tons of gold during the peak of the mining operation. However, historians and the miners themselves claim that the actual volume was much higher, with estimates reaching over 100 tons, due to the intense smuggling that occurred.
In an attempt to control the market and the flow of wealth, the federal government intervened in 1980, granting the Federal Savings Bank a monopoly on the purchase of extracted gold. Nevertheless, the region became a business hub where fortunes were made and lost in a matter of hours. Most of the wealth, however, did not remain with the men who risked their lives at the bottom of the mine.
What Exists Today In The Place Of Serra Pelada?
The end of the largest open-pit mine in the world began when manual excavation became unfeasible. The crater became so deep that the earth walls began to collapse frequently, and the bottom of the pit was flooded by groundwater. In 1992, manual mining was officially closed.
Today, the landscape of the site is unrecognizable. The gigantic crater of Serra Pelada gave way to a deep lake of blue-green waters, a silent and melancholic monument to the gold rush that consumed the region. The legacy of the mine is complex: on one hand, the iconic images captured by photographer Sebastião Salgado, who documented a human saga of hope and despair; on the other, the deep social and environmental scars left in the Amazon.
Did you know the story of Serra Pelada? What impresses you most about this phenomenon? Leave your opinion in the comments!
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