Extractivist Relationships: An Exploration of Public Health in a Community Impacted by Lithium Mining

Abstract

As Lithium Transnational Corporations (TNCs) enter into northern Minas Gerais, Brazil to begin mining, tensions in the small rural town of Araçuaí have risen as local activists raise concerns about the health, social, and environmental impacts of these new endeavors. These impacts are of critical concern for Public Health operating in the area but it is unclear what role they play in the mining discourse, and if and how governmental political and economic priorities have shaped the public health response. From January to June of 2025, ethnographic researcher resided in this area to learn more about the local politics, contextualize this discourse within broader global interests for lithium, and assess the role of Public Health and its capacity to address health impacts. Over the course of this research, it was clear that any opposition to the new lithium mining would be silenced and apprehensions would be dismissed, at the individual level but also through systematic and institutional barriers. Within the Public Health system, the lack of capacity to address or even monitor for these impacts raises concerns about the long-term welfare of the community and presents a myopic view of environmental health. More significantly, this research brings attention to the ways environmental racism operates not only on a Global scale, but also how it operates locally through a silencing of traditional and racialized communities.