BRAZIL — The Brazilian government has opened up a vast part of an Amazonian national reserve to mining.

President Michel Timer removed the protective status of the National Reserve of Copper and Associates (RENCA), which straddles the Brazilian states of Amapa and Para, CNBC reported.

The area covers 46,000 sq kms (17,800 sq miles) and is believed to be rich in gold, copper, iron and other minerals.

Brazil has opened up 30 percent of the reserve, and said that mining would only be permitted in areas with no conservation controls or indigenous lands.

The government plans to open up 10 percent of all protected rainforest areas to mining in an attempt to encourage growth, CNN reported.
A report published last week by the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) stated that mining in the area would cause "demographic explosion, deforestation, the destruction of water resources, the loss of biodiversity and the creation of land conflict," according to CNN.

The Rainforest Foundation estimates approximately 1 acre is destroyed every second in the Amazon, and an estimated 20 percent of the rainforest has been destroyed over the past four decades.