A Description of The Carajas Project
In the hills of the Carajas in South East Amazonia, in Brazil there are huge deposits of high-grade iron and other minerals. The amount of iron found is the most that has ever been found in the world, an estimated 18 billion tones. To make the most of this huge and profitable resource, the government set up the ‘Great Carajas Project’
The project cost a huge amount of money. A lot of the investment came from outside of Brazil. The 900km railway alone cost $2.5 billion, without the cost of all the mines and equipment needed for mining, the resources needed to sustain huge numbers of workers, in otherwise inhabited forests. The US and Japan loaned $2.5 billion to Brazil, the World Bank loaned $300 million and the ECSC (European coal and steel community) loaned $600 million.