O projeto Minas Rio e a mineração em Conceição do Mato Dentro - MG: uma análise a partir dos discursos, dos conflitos e da resistência

Abstract

In recent years, the Brazilian government's investment in the mining sector have grown and this is likewise, what happens in Minas Gerais, a state that carries mining in its name and its history. The advances in the industry have been leveraged based on the discourse that mining is an activity of public interest that generates jobs and income. However, such speeches hide ideologies of the ruling class: progress, development and sustainable development, which play a key role in the maintenance of the capitalist system. Before bringing the dreamed development and sustainability, the mining activity causes many impacts that can sparkle conflicts related to the uses and appropriations of space, territory and natural resources. Such conflicts are often suppressed or submitted to consensual forms of conflict resolution. When they hatch, however, resistance around the mining activity raises, questioning not only the modus operandi of transnational companies running large projects, as well as the development model that has been arbitrarily adopted by the established powers. This is taking place in the city of Conceição do Mato Dentro, in the state of Minas Gerais, where by mid- 2007 the implementation of the Minas Rio project has begun. In addition to a mine and a port, the project involves the largest mineral pipeline of world. Therefore, this research aims at analyzing the mining activity and the Minas Rio project in Conceição do Mato Dentro, building on discourses, conflicts and resistance. By doing so it aims at contributing to the debate on the topic.