Amazon Gold Rush: Illegal Mining Soars as Global Demand Surges

Record gold prices and rising global demand have led to an increase in incentives for illegal mining across the Amazon, including in protected areas and Indigenous territories. This illicit activity can be laundered into legal markets through false documentation, shell companies, traders, and refiners.

The damage caused by mining includes deforestation, sedimentation, mercury contamination, and diesel emissions. Central banks and other major buyers should impose stronger sourcing, traceability, audit, and due-diligence requirements to make illegal gold harder to sell, argues Robert Muggah, co-founder and research director of the Igarapé Institute.

In 2025, Brazilian authorities disabled 277 dredges used for illegal gold mining along the Madeira River. The operation valued at around $6.8 million was a significant blow to one of the Amazon's busiest mining frontiers, but its effect was likely temporary.

Satellite monitoring reveals that the industry is spreading rapidly. A basin-wide monitoring initiative led by Amazon Mining Watch detected over 37,000 hectares of new mining expansion across the Amazon in 2025. Of this total, more than 14,000 hectares lay within protected areas and Indigenous territories.