The interim president of Ibram (Brazilian Mining Institute), Pablo Cesário, stated in an interview with CNN that the approval of PL 3025/2023, which reformulates the rules for controlling the origin, purchase, sale, transportation and traceability of gold in the country, exposed what he called a “sewage” in Brasília.
Cesário was this week’s interviewee on Mapa da Mina, a CNN Brasil program focused on the mineral sector, and harshly criticized the procedure and content of the text approved by the Chamber of Deputies in April.
According to him, the problem is not in the traceability itself, but in the model approved by the deputies, which, in the sector’s view, does not sufficiently close the gaps in the origin of the gold and could allow the continued laundering of illegally extracted metal.
“We didn’t have any public hearing, the report was published at the last minute. See, sewage also enters Brasília. We cannot allow the cancer of illegal mining to roam freely around the country again,” he said.
According to Cesário, people linked to illegal gold laundering were in the National Congress on the eve of the vote and ended up making “their will prevail”.
Ibram’s central criticism is that the approved text tightens documentation and expands the formal traceability of metal circulation, but without robustly resolving the most sensitive stage of the chain: independent verification of origin.
For the institute, the risk is to create a strong system on paper and in the subsequent monitoring of gold, but still vulnerable at the metal’s entry point into the formal market, precisely where the so-called “heating up” of illegal production can occur.
The so-called “warming up” happens when illegal gold receives false documents to appear legal. For critics, the approved text still depends heavily on the seller’s self-declaration on the first purchase, which keeps the doors open for fraud.
In the interview, Cesário also associated the debate with the expansion of organized crime regarding illegal mining.
According to him, criminal groups have been financing clandestine activity and using gold as an instrument to launder resources. In this reading, a regulatory model that does not rigorously shield the origin of the metal can, instead of stifling this dynamic, preserve space for its continuity.
This is because the first sale would be based on information provided by the seller or agent, and the Gold Transport and Custody Guide will be issued electronically by the issuer of the transaction, who assumes responsibility for the declared information.
This means that traceability can become stronger after gold enters the system, without necessarily preventing the initial entry of illicit metal as effectively.
A relevant part of this criticism is echoed in the ANM (National Mining Agency) itself.
In a technical note obtained by CNN, the agency expressed support for the creation of a gold traceability system, but recommended to parliamentarians the rejection of the approved substitute and the resumption of the original text sent by the Executive Branch.
The agency maintains that the problem is not in the idea of strengthening control over the gold chain, but in the design approved by the Chamber.
In the evaluation of the technical area, the replacement exchanges a model more in line with verifying the origin of the metal for another centered on the physical marking of gold by the Mint, exclusively, in addition to the creation of a fee to finance the operation. The note states that the original text was more consistent and more feasible from a regulatory and operational point of view.
The ANM also directly questions the role attributed to the Mint.
According to the technical note, the state-owned company does not have national coverage or a structure compatible with the complexity of the role assigned to it by the replacement.
The document also points out that the physical marking of gold is less efficient than technological mechanisms capable of attesting its origin and criticizes the fact that the agency is forced to regulate, within 60 days, a highly complex system that would be operated by another entity.
The sector’s reaction, therefore, is not against the creation of traceability mechanisms.
What the institute says, in a similar vein to that of the ANM, is that the model approved by the Chamber worsens the solution originally designed by the federal government by shifting the axis of control from the ANM to the Mint and by not addressing, in a sufficiently robust manner, the fragility in proving the origin of the gold.
The mineral sector has already started working in the Senate to try to block or modify PL 3025/2023.
