Lourenço is a town and district in the Brazilian municipality of
Calçoene
Calçoene () is a municipality located in the east of the state of Amapá in Brazil. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean in the Amazon jungle basin near French Guiana. Calçoene covers and has a population is 11,306. The name Calçoene is a corru ...
, in the interior of the state of
Amapá
Amapá () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northern region of Brazil. It is the second least populous state and the eighteenth largest by area. Located in the far northern part of the country, Amapá is bordered clockwise by Fr ...
. The main economic activities of the town is
gold mining
Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...
. It is one of the oldest mines in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
History
Gold mining in Lourenço began in the 19th century. In 1894, at the height of the gold rush, there were 6,000 to 10,000 gold miners in the area around the
Calçoene River
Calçoene River is a river of Amapá state in north-eastern Brazil.
In 1894, the river was at the heart of gold rush with there were 6,000 to 10,000 gold miners active in and around the river.
See also
* List of rivers of Amapá
References
Bra ...
. In 1984, Mineração Novo Astro (MNA) and Mineração Yukio Yoshidome (MYYSA) were awarded concessions for mining on an industrial scale. This resulted in conflicts with the ''
garimpeiros
Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface ...
'' (illegal gold prospectors).
![Landslide Gold mine Lourenço Amapá Brazil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Landslide_Gold_mine_Louren%C3%A7o_Amap%C3%A1_Brazil.jpg)
In 1992, the Mining Cooperative of Garimpeiros of Lourenço (COOGAL) was founded,
and the concessions were transferred to COOGAL in 1994. As of 2014, COOGAL operates five mining concessions and employs 1,100 ''garimpeiros''.
The official census figures for the district are an underestimation, and the actual population is estimated at 4,500 people.
Lourenço is located in an area surrounded by
protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
s and
indigenous territories. The region around Lourenço has been polluted with
mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
, and has been
deforested
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
.
The school and clinic are functioning below standard. In 2017, Lourenço received 24 hour electricity. The town is connected to the
BR-156
BR-156 is a federal highway of Brazil.
The road consists of 552 km between Oiapoque and Macapá, and 271 km between Macapá and Laranjal do Jari (except via Santana city), totalling 823 km of road through forest and savannah. Only the road betwe ...
highway via an unpaved road.
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorenco
Gold mines in Brazil
Populated places in Amapá