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Brazil

Overview

Brazil is one of the world’s top five bauxite producers, with the state of Pará accounting for more than 80 percent of national extraction.[i] Bauxite is the raw material from which aluminum is made, a metal found in everyday consumer goods and increasingly vital for the green transition. According to the US Geological Survey, Brazil produced an estimated 33 million metric tons of bauxite, 11 million metric tons of alumina, and 1.1 million metric tons of aluminum in 2024.[ii]

Communities living near bauxite mines, refineries, and aluminum plants in Brazil have long faced serious impacts, including deforestation, contamination of water resources, air pollution, and loss of livelihoods and food access.[iii] Toxic waste from aluminum production has been stored in tailings ponds, and dam ruptures and leaks have occurred in Brazil, including in Pará state.[iv] Mining companies have also been reported to have failed to respect communities’ legal rights to Free, Prior, and Informed Consultation during expansion and licensing procedures.[v]

Our Investigation

Between January and July 2025, Transparentem investigated five sites across the bauxite-aluminum supply chain in Pará, speaking with leaders and members of 40 communities, including Quilombola and indigenous families, as well as companies that owned, operated, or had supply chain connections to the sites. Transparentem found a significant gap between what companies said about their community engagement and what communities themselves described: a long history of struggling to have their concerns taken seriously, and of feeling unheard on decisions that significantly affect their land, water, and livelihoods.

[i] “Brazil Is One of the Main Exporters of Bauxite and Aluminum,” Government of Brazil (website), August 12, 2022, accessed October 7, 2025, https://www.gov.br/en/government-of-brazil/latest-news/2022/brazil-is-one-of-the-main-exporters-of-bauxite-and-aluminum

[ii] United States Department of Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, “Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025,” March 2025, accessed October 7, 2025, https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2025/mcs2025.pdf

[iii] Rainforest Rescue, “Five-minute info: Aluminum,” accessed October 7, 2025, https://www.rainforest-rescue.org/topics/aluminum; Human Rights Watch, “Aluminum, the Car Industry’s Blind Spot,” July 22, 2021, accessed October 7, 2025, https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/07/22/aluminum-car-industrys-blind-spot/why-car-companies-should-address-human-rights; Amazon Watch, “Complicity in Destruction IV,” 2022, accessed October 7, 2025, https://amazonwatch.org/assets/files/2022-complicity-in-destruction-iv.pdf; Sheridan Prasso and Jessica Brice, “Ford’s Electric Pickup is Built from Metal That’s Damaging the Amazon,” Bloomberg, February 26, 2023, accessed October 7, 2025, https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-ford-f150-electric-car-rainforest-damage/; Thais Borges and Sue Branford, “Paradise Lost: Brazil’s Biggest Bauxite Mining Firm Denies Riverine Rights,” Mongabay, November 27, 2023, accessed October 7, 2025, https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/paradise-lost-brazils-biggest-bauxite-mining-firm-denies-riverine-rights/

[iv] World Rainforest Movement, “Brazil: Hydro Alunorte’s Alumina Tailings Dam, a Disaster Foreshadowed,” November 25, 2019, accessed October 7, 2025, https://www.wrm.org.uy/bulletin-articles/brazil-hydro-alunortes-alumina-tailings-dam-a-disaster-foreshadowed

[v] Amazon Watch, “Complicity in Destruction IV,” 2022, accessed October 7, 2025, https://amazonwatch.org/assets/files/2022-complicity-in-destruction-iv.pdf; Beatriz Miranda and Íria Borges, “In Brazil’s Water Tank, Communities Resist Mining to Preserve Their Water and Livelihoods,” Mongabay, November 30, 2024, accessed October 7, 2025, https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/in-brazils-water-tank-communities-resist-mining-to-preserve-their-water-and-livelihoods/; Thais Borges and Sue Branford, “Paradise Lost: Brazil’s Biggest Bauxite Mining Firm Denies Riverine Rights,” Mongabay, November 27, 2023, accessed October 7, 2025, https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/paradise-lost-brazils-biggest-bauxite-mining-firm-denies-riverine-rights/

Investigations and Impact in Brazil

Paying the Price of the Green Transition: Communities Affected By Brazil’s Bauxite-Aluminum Supply Chain Still Don’t Have Enough Say
Overview and Background From smartphones to beverage cans to cars, consumers use products made of aluminum every day. Used to manufacture solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, and transmission cables, this versatile metal has also become crucial for the green energy transition. A responsible transition to a green economy must attend to and protect against the human impacts of raw...