Jose Drummond, an alumnus of the Nelson Institute, received his Ph. D. in Land Resources in 1999, with a dissertation on the environmental and social impacts of mining in the Brazilian state of Amapá. His major professor and chair of his committee was Archibald O. Haller, from the Department of Rural Sociology. Recently, his dissertation was published in Brazil. Its Portuguese title is “O Amapa nos tempos do manganês — um estudo sobre o desenvolvimento de um estado amazônico,” which translates as “Amapá during the era of manganese — a study about the development of an Amazonian state.” It was published by Editora Garamond.
Drummond’s book explores a 50-year (1948-1998) manganese extraction effort in the state of Amapá–the Serra do Navio mine–which was the first large-scale, modern, corporate mining venture in the Brazilian Amazon. His focus is the mine’s developmental and environmental impacts and his findings show that Amapá was not underdeveloped by the mining venture, and that environmental impacts were quite limited. The book is co-authored by Mariângela Pereira, whose research added a valuable chapter on the related matter of the mine´s company town which was transformed into a new municipality during the closing years of mining activities.
Jose Drummond is currently professor at the Universidade de Brasília, in Brazil´s capital. He is based at the Center for Sustainable Development where he serves as the Graduate Studies Director. He can be reached via email.