Carajás National Forest
| Carajás National Forest | |
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| Floresta Nacional de Carajás | |
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IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
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Isa Carajas
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| Nearest city | Parauapebas, Pará |
| Coordinates | 6°03′32″S 50°10′23″W / 6.05898°S 50.17313°WCoordinates: 6°03′32″S 50°10′23″W / 6.05898°S 50.17313°W |
| Area | 392,725.14 hectares (970,445.0 acres) |
| Designation | National forest |
| Created | 2 February 1998 |
The Carajás National Forest (Portuguese: Floresta Nacional de Carajás) is a national forest in the state of Pará. Brazil. It covers the Serra dos Carajás (Carajás Mountains), an area with large deposits of iron ore, and attempts to combine the roles of supporting mineral extraction with preserving the environment and maintaining biodiversity.
The Serra dos Carajás is in the Amazon deforestation arc at the eastern end of a large forest area in Para. The Serra dos Carajás is a mountain complex about 160 by 60 kilometres (99 by 37 mi) with complex geology but with almost flat tops from 620 to 660 metres (2,030 to 2,170 ft) in altitude. The mountains were originally completely covered by moist equatorial forest. Temperatures average 21 to 22 °C (70 to 72 °F) with little variation throughout the year. The Carajás National Forest has an area of 392,725.14 hectares (970,445.0 acres). It covers parts of the municipalities of Canaã dos Carajás, Parauapebas and Água Azul do Norte in the state of Pará.
There are huge reserves of high quality iron ore and some manganese ore. These reserves were discovered accidentally by U.S. Steel in the 1960s. In 1970 a joint venture company was formed to exploit the deposit with the Vale mining company owning 51% and U.S. Steel owning 49%. In 1977 Vale acquired full ownership. Mining operations by Vale began in 1985. The Carajás Mine produced 301Mt of iron ore from the mine in 2008. In March 2012 Vale announced that it had obtained an installation license for the Carajás S11D iron ore project, the largest in the company's history with a US$19.671 billion capital expenditure.
The Carajás National Forest was created by decree 2.486 of 2 February 1998 with an area of 411,948.87 hectares (1,017,947.8 acres). By creating the national forest the government avoided the need to submit the grant of the mining concession to congressional vote. It is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). It is classed as IUCN protected area category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources). The objective is sustainable multiple use of forest resources and scientific research, with emphasis on sustainable exploitation of native forest. The national forest seeks to reconcile mining with conservation of biodiversity.
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