This book records visits by Mike O'Brien to a group of AngloGold Ashanti mines, jointly known as AGA Mineração, in Brazil, in March 2011. In 2010 AngloGold Ashanti combined its Cuiabá/Lamego/Queiroz and the Córrego do Sítio and São Bento operations. The operations are collectively known as AngloGold Ashanti Córrego do Sítio Mineração (AGA Mineração). This mining complex is located in south-eastern Brazil, in the state of Minas Gerais, with operations in the municipalities of Nova Lima, Sabará and Santa Bárbara.
While curating the photos, it struck me that the underground scenes might as well be of explorers on Mars. Mars is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance, and it is dark, rocky, remote and alien. The same can be said of the mines that make up Mineração: - underground they are reddish in the light from headlamps, dark, rocky, remote and an alien environment to all but the mine employees. - Marthe Bijman









