The Brazilian federal prosecutor’s office for the eastern Amazon state of Pará has asked the state’s Environmental Secretariat (Sectam) to suspend Alcoa Aluminum’s license to dig a US$900 million, 2.6-million-metric-ton-per-year bauxite mine, alleging poor sewage control at the work site has caused a hepatitis outbreak. Daniel César Azeredo, a federal prosecutor for Pará, also questions Alcoa’s construction license for the mine, asserting it should have been obtained from federal authorities rather than from Sectam because the project also could affect the neighboring state of Amazonas. The request comes as 2,300 workers are doing site preparation, installing a 33-mile (55-km) railway to haul bauxite from the mine to the Amazon River town of Juruti and building a port... [Log in to read more]