A complete community of 5,000 people was established in the remote location in the Amazon rainforest to support the mining operations, which began in 1982.

In 1976 the Brazilian Geological Survey detected deposits of cassiterite (tin ore) to the east of the Waimiri Atroari Indigenous Reservation.

[1] Geologists of Brazilian Geological Survey, found traces of cassiterite in 1976 in tributaries of the Pitinga River that is outside the Indian reserve.

It has schools, restaurants, health facilities, a bank branch, post office, telephone exchange and supermarket.

[6] Bucketwheel excavator dredges extracted material rich in cassiterite, which was pumped through pipes to floating processing plants that separated the tin ore.[8] The cassiterite is concentrated on site, then shipped to Mamoré Mineração e Metalurgia in the southern state of São Paulo for casting.

[11] Mineração Taboca made efforts to minimise environmental damage and to assist recovery of the mined areas.

This includes building dams and dykes to hold tailings and to clarify water, replanting areas cleared for mining or road construction, creating drainage systems and so on.

[6] Tailings are held in holding ponds as a reserve that may be further processed if justified by a rise in the price of tin.

The sediment was released into the Alalaú River, and the pollution affected the fish downstream in the Waimiri-Atroari Indian Reserve.

[12] The Indians reported that the polluted water had made them ill.[13] The company has researched ways of restoring the degraded areas, and has worked with the environmental agencies on plans for recovery.