Brazil uses forensic science to trace gold’s origin and tackle illegal mining in the Amazon

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil is using forensic science to tackle illegal gold mining in the Amazon, a top threat to the rainforest, Indigenous groups and other communities there that has accelerated deforestation and driven mercury contamination to dangerous levels.

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil is using forensic science to tackle illegal gold mining in the Amazon, a top threat to the rainforest, Indigenous groups and other communities there that has accelerated deforestation and driven mercury contamination to dangerous levels.

Subscribe to read this story ad-free

Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

The work takes place at the National Institute of Criminalistics in Brasilia, the country’s capital, where federal police have set up a “gold lab” that collects and analyses samples from across the country.

The objective is to determine if a newly acquired sample — gold seized in a police raid, for example — comes from a protected area, meaning it has been illegally mined. It’s called “gold fingerprinting” — tracing the origin of gold samples with high precision.