Amazon Mining Watch: AI-Powered Platform Detects Gold Mining Deforestation in All Amazonian Countries for the First Time

November 13, 2025

New platform reveals the expansion of mining fronts across protected areas and Indigenous territories as gold prices soar, but partnerships put science to work for enforcement and accountability. 

Belém, Brazil, November 2025 — Amazon Mining Watch confirms widespread gold mining-related deforestation impacting 222 protected areas and Indigenous territories across all nine Amazonian countries, marking the first time this activity has been mapped basin-wide with an AI tool in near-real time.

The findings, being launched at COP 30, are based on the first quarterly update of the Amazon Mining Watch, an AI-based monitoring platform developed through a partnership between Amazon Conservation Association, Earth Genome, and the Rainforest Investigations Network of the Pulitzer Center, with support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

As gold prices shatter records, small-scale mining is driving forest loss across the Amazon Rainforest. Many new mining fronts are advancing into areas with legal protection where this type of deforestation is illegal, with 83 protected areas and 139 Indigenous territories already impacted.

“This shows that gold mining is not a local problem; it’s an Amazon-wide crisis that demands coordinated monitoring, enforcement, and accountability,” said Andrés Santana, Senior Manager for Combating Illegal Deforestation at Amazon Conservation. He adds that “uncontrolled gold mining deforestation is contributing to the factors pushing the Amazon closer to its tipping point. It’s paramount that we address this crisis with a comprehensive, regional response focused on dismantling organized crime, strengthening law enforcement, and empowering Indigenous and local peoples to defend their lands.”

 

Mining Fronts Expanding Across the Basin

The newest Amazon Mining Watch data confirms the expansion of gold-mining deforestation across the entire Amazon, with significant new fronts emerging in Peru, Brazil, and Venezuela. In Peru, recent activity has intensified within Indigenous territories and along key tributaries of the Amazon River. In Brazil, deforestation linked to gold mining continues to advance inside protected areas such as Tapajós and Jamanxim. It has now reached regions in the northeast for the first time. In Venezuela, satellite data shows growing mining pressure along the Orinoco River, near its border with Brazil. 

Additional cases of new gold mining fronts were also detected in other Amazonian countries, underscoring how this activity is spreading across borders and into ecosystems once considered intact.

 

Turning Detection Into Action

Amazon Mining Watch is advancing transparent and effective governance of gold mining across the region. Evolving into a one-stop shop for data and policy information, the platform integrates timely detection of new mining areas with land designation data to help users assess whether an activity is likely unauthorized or illegal. It also combines an economic impact assessment tool, developed by the Conservation Strategy Fund (CSF), that estimates the socio-environmental costs of mining damage. 

An upcoming policy tracker and governance scorecard that presents a comparative analysis of policy frameworks and regulations across countries will further enhance the Amazon Mining Watch.

Updated quarterly and enriched with case studies and policy briefs, the initiative counts on more than 10 partner organizations across the Amazon to strengthen on-the-ground vetting of data, advocacy campaigns, and enforcement efforts.

“We’re turning information into action,” said John Beavers, President of Amazon Conservation. “By combining cutting-edge technology, local knowledge, and cross-border collaboration, we’re helping governments and communities protect their forests and their future.”

 

Amazon Mining Watch at COP30

Amazon Conservation and its partners will showcase firsthand how AI, data, and collaboration are transforming conservation across the region at COP30 in Belém, Brazil—the first UN Climate Conference ever held in the Amazon. Learn more at: www.amazonconservation.org/cop30

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About Amazon Conservation Association

Amazon Conservation is an international conservation nonprofit working for the past 25 years toward building a thriving Amazon. The organization’s holistic approach focuses on working with local partners and allies to protect wild places, empower people, and put science and technology to work for conservation. Visit amazonconservation.org for more information.

 

Press Contacts

Priscila Steffen, Communications & Public Relations Manager: info@amazonconservation.org.