Wearing a red feather headdress, Bepdjo told AFP of rising tensions with intruders in the Bau Indigenous Territory in Para state, four years after his people expelled almost 200 prospectors."The miners are stubborn. They enter by any means. Because today the price of gold is very high," Bepdjo, 45, told AFP in Pykany, a village of his Kayapo people in a territory neighboring Bau."We have to expel them, otherwise, they'll just keep pushing in."The price of gold -- a safe-haven asset in troubled times -- has hit a new era of record highs amid global instability.This is pushing wildcat miners into relatively untouched areas like Bau.In February, guns were briefly drawn on both sides when chief Bepdjo and a group of Kayapo warriors came across miners in a canoe. He said they kicked out 24 people.Afterward, a coalition of Indigenous organizations, in a letter seen by AFP, warned authorities including the IBAMA environmental agency, of "the imminent risk of a large-scale armed conflict," and asked them for help.Bepdjo is tired of waiting.
The high price of gold is fueling illegal gold mining, including in protected areas like the Rio Novo national park in the state of Para © Evaristo Sa / AFP
