Mineral Amazon - Carajás and Serra Pelada in the historical relationship of the regional development and their environmental consequences.

Serra Pelada and Carajás, two of the biggest mining fields of high quality and easy exploration in Brazil, were targets of predatory mining in distinct historical moments. In this work we analyzed the impacts in the region due to these explorations. In the contest of a lack of environmental and social conscience, the explorations were not so well planned and therefore lead to one of the most problematic social and environmental frictions of the country. Although mining activity has its share of the responsibility regarding negative impacts, nowadays the idea of sustainability is one of the most important bases to lead to a mining exploration.