Exportaçoes de Minas Gerais, mineração.

GEONOMOS 3 (1): 77-86

A MINERAÇÃO EM MINAS GERAIS:
PASSADO, PRESENTE E FUTURO

Olintho Pereira da Silva

ABSTRACT
The first Portuguese pioneers who entered the newly discovered Brazilian lands were not succesful in the prospection of precious metals and stones. The primitive inhabitants were not enough cultivated to extract the metals from the rocks. They lived in the stone age yet. They became the sole valuable product of the “entradas” ventures. The mining in Brazil started when, in the end of the XVIII century, gold placers were found in the lands which were later named Minas Gerais.
The beginnings were terrible. The rich placers were depredated, the environment heavily spoiled by unskilled and thoughtless miners.
The Portuguese royal authorities tried to recuperate the mining activities by sending to Minas Gerais the German Metallurgical Technician, the baron W.L. von Eschwege who did a great effort to improve the gold and diamond mining works and to create alternative metallurgical undertakings.
During the Imperial Times, several English ventures were organized to continue exploiting gold deposits in Minas Gerais. The majority failled being succesfull. English capital left Brazil when the South African gold rush started in 1886.
By 1910, American entrepreneurs tried to exploit the rich iron ore deposits found in the heart of
Minas Gerais state. Political controversy prevented the American from implanting the projected iron ore undertakings. Now, looking far back, some doubts remain about the feasibility of the proposed ventures.
The year of 1934 marked important dates for the Brazilian mining legal structure. In 1942 were created the Companhia Vale do Rio Doce and the Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional.
In the second half of the 1960 decade started the best times for the Brazilian mining, but by 1982 the political and economical turmoils reverted the trend. Wild gold rush bursted out with great political support. In 1988 a