Brazil uses ‘gold fingerprinting’ to fight illegal mining in the Amazon
The objective is to determine if a newly acquired sample — gold seized in a police raid, for example — comes from a protected area, meaning it has been illegally mined. It’s called “gold fingerprinting” — tracing the origin of gold samples with high precision. Tracing gold is like looking at a person’s DNA, experts say At the lab, sparkling gold flakes are kept in tiny, coin-shaped vessels, but the most valuable thing about them is the data they hold.
- ▪The objective is to determine if a newly acquired sample — gold seized in a police raid, for example — comes from a protected area, meaning it has been illegally mined.
- ▪It’s called “gold fingerprinting” — tracing the origin of gold samples with high precision.
- ▪Tracing gold is like looking at a person’s DNA, experts say At the lab, sparkling gold flakes are kept in tiny, coin-shaped vessels, but the most valuable thing about them is the data they hold.
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Brazil is using forensic science to tackle illegal gold mining in the Amazon, a top threat to the rainforest, Indigenous groups and other communities there that has accelerated deforestation and driven mercury contamination to dangerous levels.Recommended Video The work takes place at the National Institute of Criminalistics in Brasilia, the country’s capital, where federal police have set up a “gold lab” that collects and analyses samples from across the country. The objective is to determine if a newly acquired sample — gold seized in a police raid, for example — comes from a protected area, meaning it has been illegally mined. It’s called “gold fingerprinting” — tracing the origin of gold samples with high precision.
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