Pitinga River
| Pitinga River | |
|---|---|
  Location within Brazil | |
| Location | |
| Country | Brazil |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Amazonas state |
| Mouth | |
• location | Balbina Dam |
• coordinates | 1°06′35″S 59°36′20″W / 1.109841°S 59.605659°W |
| Basin features | |
| River system | Uatumã River |
The Pitinga River (Portuguese: Rio Pitinga) is a river of Amazonas state in north-western Brazil. It empties into the Balbina Dam on the Uatumã River.
Mining operation
[edit]In the 1970s the vast Amazon rainforest was being mapped through the Amazon Radar Project, a large-scale effort to chart remote landscapes. Among its most significant findings was the detection of cassiterite (tin ore) located near the Waimiri Atroari Indigenous Reservation.[1]
By 1979, geologists from Mineração Taboca, then a subsidiary of the Paranapanema heavy civil construction company, found traces of cassiterite in 1979 in tributaries of the Pitinga River.[2]
What began as small-scale exploration quickly expanded into an industrial-scale project, reshaping the region’s social and environmental landscape. The Pitinga mine began operations in 1982.[2] The company built a community in the Amazon forest 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Manaus with housing, schools, health facilities, power and telecommunications.[2] In 1985 Paranapanema invested US$15 million in infrastructure upgrades, including a 10,000 kilowatt hydroelectric power plant on the Pitinga River, expected to reduce energy costs by US$4 million annually.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Sources
[edit]- Smale-Adams, K. B. (1986), Mining Latin America / Minería Latinoamericana, Springer Science & Business Media, ISBN 978-94-017-2286-5, retrieved 2016-07-30
- The Company - History, Mineração Taboca, retrieved 2016-07-29
- Waimiri Atroari: Contact Situation, ISA: Instituto Socioambiental, retrieved 2016-07-29
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