Unreported World travels to the heart of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest to reveal just how some of the Earth's most isolated people are being affected by the world's financial crisis causing the price of gold to rise to record levels.

As the price of gold rises, thousands of miners are illegally mining in remote territory set aside for the indigenous Yanomami people, who have had little contact with the outside world. The miners bring disease, alcoholism and prostitution, as well as ecological devastation. Reporter Jenny Kleeman and director Paul Kittel ask whether this gold rush could mean the Yanomami tribe die out completely.

Kleeman and Kittel begin their journey in Boa Vista, still a thriving Amazon gold town, despite the ban on mining in the Yanomami Reserve since 1992 outlawed all gold mining in the region. But they quickly learn that the gold trade is alive and well here. Kleeman meets a miner who is currently working illegally in Yanomami territory. He says he can earn up to ten times the average monthly wage, and he has no other way support himself financially.

The team accompanies the Brazilian Airforce on a mission into the Amazon in search of illegal mines. Flying just above the treetops, the crew spot a perilous landing strip cut into the jungle by wildcat miners. The Colonel promises to report the landing strip to the Federal Police.

After an arduous trek through the jungle, they arrive in a remote Yanomami village where a third of the villagers recently contracted malaria. Miners had diverted the course of a nearby river, leaving it stagnant and attracting mosquitoes that caused the outbreak. If medical treatment had not arrived in time, the outbreak could have spread across the region and turned into an epidemic.

The team then meets activist Davi Yanomami, who takes them to another settlement where the Yanomami have been badly affected by contact with illegal miners. They've abandoned their traditional, self-sufficient life and live in poverty, surviving on handouts. Davi claims that by legalising some mining, the government is opening the door to more illegal mining in indigenous areas which will lead to the total destruction of Yanomami culture. But, he claims, the Federal Police are doing nothing to stop it.

Back in Boa Vista, Kleeman meets Dr Claudio de Souza, head of the Federal Police. He claims that in the two years that he has been in the job he has never received any intelligence from the Air Force about illegal gold mining in the Yanomami reserve. It seems that no one is taking responsibility for ensuring that the miners are removed and the indigenous tribes are protected.

The team ends their journey with a visit to a gold mine across the border in Guyana, filled with illegal Brazilian miners. Bulldozers and high-pressure hoses have gouged a huge crater into the Amazon. A miner tells Kleeman the gold is running out here, and they are looking to move on to new mining areas.

As Kleeman and Kittel leave the Amazon, things look bleak for the Yanomami. The Brazilian authorities appear incapable of stopping the flow of illegal gold miners into the Amazon, and it seems inconceivable that Yanomami land will be left undisturbed. As the price of gold grows ever higher, the Yanomami look destined to suffer further.

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