As incompatibilidades entre as diretrizes do desenvolvimento sustentável e os atributos extrativistas: breve análise da mineradora canadense Lundin Mining no Brasil

Abstract

The article investigates how mining companies reconcile the contradiction between sustainability demands and the extractive nature of mining activities, aiming to observe the inconsistencies between mining companies’ sustainability statements and the inherently extractive feature of this productive practice. To achieve this, it examines the current sustainable development guidelines for the private sector, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Global Compact (UNGC), and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It exposes the counterpoints offered by the concepts of extractivism, revealing mining as incapable of self-declaring sustainability due to the inherent logic it embodies. The analytical focus is on the largest Canadian Multinational Corporation (MNC) operating with mining in Brazil, engaged in copper and gold extraction, preceded by an overview of general data concerning Canadian mining companies operating in the country. The article concludes that mining companies’ claims of sustainable development lack support from environmental and generational sustainability but rather rely on social legitimacy and financial returns. Finally, it briefly presents post-extractivism as a propostion to exit the labyrinth of economic growth reliant on extractive activities.