Study Guide
Grades 9-12, College, Adult
Directed by Adrian Cowell
Produced by Adrian Cowell, Nomad Films Ltd
DVD Purchase $79, Rent $45
US Release Date: 1990
Copyright Date: 1990
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-333-1
VHS ISBN: 1-56029-032-3
Subjects
Brazil
Developing World
Environment
Forests and Rainforests
Latin America
Mining
Natural Resources
Awards and Festivals
**** Video Rating Guide for Libraries
Mountains of Gold
Gold mining in the Amazon is a dangerous and dirty business.
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Brazil has one of the world's largest untapped gold reserves and roughly 70% of its production is mined by freelance prospectors, or garimpeiros, who pan and dredge gold all over the forest on land licensed by the government to huge companies. The film follows Jova, a prospector famous among his colleagues for his illegal gold strikes, as he plays hide and seek with the security forces of Brazil's largest mining multinational. The main threat to the company, however, is the huge mine of Serra Pelada which is manually operated by garimpeiros.
Other titles in the series are:
In the Ashes of the Forest - Part 1 - Saga of two colonists in the Amazon.
In the Ashes of the Forest - Part 2 - Concludes the Amazon colonists' saga.
Killing for Land - Land wars in the Amazon.
The Killing of Chico Mendes - The 1988 murder of Chico Mendes.