Brazil will reinstate a mining ban in a vast area of the Amazon rainforest, the government announced on Monday, in an about-face that is a victory for environmentalists who feared deforestation.
The Mines and Energy Ministry said in a statement that President Michel Temer’s administration had decided to revoke an August decree abolishing the National Reserve of Copper and Associates (Renca), an area of roughly 46 100 km2 or slightly larger than Denmark.
