Brazil court suspends license for Belo Sun gold project (updated)

Belo Sun Mining

12/04/2017 20:23

(Adds details of court decision, mining project, hydropower 
dam) 
    By Marta Nogueira 
    RIO DE JANEIRO, April 12 (Reuters) - A Brazilian court 
suspended the license for Toronto-based Belo Sun Mining Corp 
 BSX.TO  to set up a gold mine just upstream from the massive 
Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on a tributary of the Amazon River, 
federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. 
    Federal judge Jirair Meguerian ruled Belo Sun should not 
receive the license until it conducted a study of the mine's 
impact on nearby indigenous communities, putting another brake 
on the company's $5 million investment plan for 2017. 
    The mining project was already blocked by a state judge due 
to irregularities in the acquisition of land for the mine, the 
prosecutors said in a statement. 
    Belo Sun said the judge had made his interim ruling without 
hearing the company's arguments and would reconsider after 
reviewing its previously conducted indigenous study. 
    Environmentalist group ISA has criticized Belo Sun for 
basing its licenses on studies conducted in 2009, before work 
had started on the 11,233-megawatt Belo Monte dam, whose impact 
on the Xingu River and two local tribes has drawn international 
controversy.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1BD1T5 
 
 (Reporting by Marta Nogueira, writing by Brad Haynes) 
 ((brad.c.haynes@thomsonreuters.com)) 
 
Keywords: BELO SUN MING LICENSE/