This year's Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference came to a close yesterday, marking the end of the world’s largest gathering for mining companies, investors, and government agencies. Yet, it concluded on a powerful note as Brazilian, Ecuadorian, Canadian, and U.S. organizations and communities broke the corporate decorum and took a bold stand, vocally condemning the threats and devastation wrought by mining in the Amazon.

In a unified voice, Amazonian Indigenous leaders and their allies shone a spotlight on Belo Sun’s Volta Grande gold mine in Brazil and Solaris Resources’ Warintza copper mine in Ecuador. These cases starkly highlight Canada’s role in enabling the harmful practices of its influential mining sector, challenging us to demand better and act for change.

As Amazon Watch’s Brazil Campaign Advisor, I had the opportunity to travel to Toronto to witness the spectacle of PDAC firsthand, where industry backers tout the benefits of mining without considering its inherent risks and promise to dig ever deeper to meet rising global demand for minerals, particularly those we’re being told are critical to the clean energy transition.