Potássio do Brasil, the Brazilian subsidiary of Canadian mining company Brazil Potash which we exposed in the report Complicity in Destruction III, was fined $20,000 by a Brazilian federal court for refusing to remove illegal signs from the Soares village, home to the Mura Indigenous people.

The company’s signs state that the area belongs to Potássio do Brazil, when the territory is in fact an Indigenous land, and therefore no mining can occur on it. The company will also be fined $10,000 per day if it fails to comply.

Potássio do Brasil’s massive project could lead to runaway deforestation and river contamination, threatening the survival of the Mura people, who depend on hunting, fishing, and subsistence farming.

In February, the Mura were threatened and prevented from removing the signs by the local police, acting on the company’s request. The court's ruling is intended to also address the company’s abusive conduct against the Mura through the local police and invasion of their territory.