BRASILIA, Brazil -- BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazil is applying forensic methods to combat illegal gold mining in the Amazon, a major risk to the rainforest, Indigenous communities and other local groups. This activity has sped up deforestation and caused dangerous mercury pollution levels.

The efforts occur at the National Institute of Criminalistics in Brasilia, where federal police operate a dedicated gold lab that gathers and examines samples from nationwide locations.

The goal is to check whether a fresh sample, such as gold taken in a police operation, originates from a protected zone and thus was extracted unlawfully. This process is known as gold fingerprinting, which traces sample origins with great accuracy.

Inside the facility, bright gold particles rest in small coin-like containers, yet their real worth lies in the information they contain. Every particle differs because as it develops naturally within rock or river sediment, the deposits take in local elements like traces of silver and copper.

This forms the unique fingerprint. It enables investigators to verify if gold seized in raids matches the claimed source or came from banned national forests or Indigenous territories, by comparing it to stored data from protected zones.

Gustavo Geiser, a federal police forensics specialist, notes the technique has evolved since 2019 through partnerships with Brazilian academic institutions. The team relies on instruments including X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy and laser ablation mass spectrometry.

As progress continued, the forensic reviews grew more intricate, Geiser said, yet the core inquiry remained unchanged: Where did this gold originate?

When analysis confirms illegal mining, the findings support police in constructing cases for additional probes and potential prosecutions.

Those tied to Amazon environmental offenses often use deception to move products into lawful markets, applying similar tactics to gold, cattle and timber. A recent global rise in gold values has intensified the mining push across the rainforest.

Amazon Mining Watch, which monitors extraction via satellite images, calculates roughly 496,000 hectares of forest lost to mining since 2023, with about 223,000 hectares in the Brazilian Amazon alone.

Brazil's Federal Court of Accounts reported last year that permits issued by the National Mining Agency for small-scale operations appeared misused to disguise gold taken from Amazon protected zones.

Greenpeace detailed the mechanism in an independent May report drawing on public records, satellite data and aerial monitoring.

Officially, holders of authorized Amazon mines would report large gold yields from those sites.

Yet satellite and aerial views showed no real work at the permitted locations. At the same time, images from adjacent Indigenous lands, where extraction is prohibited, displayed extensive operations, a ghost mine scheme as Greenpeace describes it.

A federal court in Para state, heavily affected by illegal mining, ordered this month that bodies like the Central Bank and National Mining Agency implement strong controls and tracking for all gold from extraction to sale. Federal prosecutors also sued the National Mining Agency for improved permit oversight.

Prosecutor Andre Porreca, heading the action, stated the permits now serve as a cover to launder gold taken by criminal groups from Indigenous lands and protected zones.

Geiser, the forensics expert, views the Brasilia gold lab as a key element in fighting crime and reinforcing worldwide gold supply networks.

Confirming legitimate origins allows gold to enter national or bank reserves, lending strength to markets and financial systems, he said.

Exact figures on convictions aided by the lab remain unavailable, but Geiser reports crime groups have shifted to neighboring nations like Venezuela, French Guiana and Suriname for laundering. Foreign samples now reach the lab and expand its database.

Increased offenses have prompted regional nations to boost cooperation via the Amazon International Police Cooperation Center based in Manaus, Brazil.

The Amazon, the planet's largest rainforest and vital climate regulator, faces accelerated global warming risks from any degradation, researchers warn.

A 2023 MapBiomas study found over 90 percent of Brazil's mining occurs in the Amazon, nearly 40 percent of it illegal within protected areas.

Though illegal gold mining drives less deforestation than farming, its environmental damage proves nearly irreversible, mainly due to mercury use in extraction. After separating gold, mercury enters rivers, polluting water and fish vital to Indigenous diets.

A 2023 Fiocruz study indicated 21.3 percent of fish in Amazon markets exceeded World Health Organization mercury safety thresholds, with children aged 2 to 4 ingesting levels up to 31 times the advised limit.

Brazil joined the U.N. Minamata Convention on Mercury, pledging to end mercury use in gold mining.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy released a draft this month on phasing out mercury, open for discussion until Aug. 7. Federal prosecutors called for input from Indigenous groups most impacted by contamination, but consultations have not occurred.

A full mercury ban would reduce environmental harm and aid forensics work, per Geiser, whose lab identifies mercury traces in samples.

It would clarify that any mercury-based mining is unlawful, he added.