Picui is one of the most traditional municipality of mineral producing of serido region, state of Paraiba, Brazil, where the mining prospector dates back to the late 19th century. Occupies a significant portion of the of Pegmatític Borborema Province, of immense geological diversity. Supracrustal rocks of the Seridó Group (schists, quartzites and gneisses) were affected by granitic, pegmittic and volcanic magmatic events, imprinting batholiths, plugs dikes, sills and veins. The set was subordinated to compressional tectonic events evidenced by the Picuí-João Câmara, Frei Martinho and Santa Mônica shear zones, imprinting failed and folded fractures. Various metallic and nonmetallic minerals are extracted economically of pegmatite bodies, such is quartz, feldspar, muscovite, beril, tantalite, spodumene (used in the manufacture of batteries for electric cars), in addition to granites for ornamental stone and civil construction and clays for red pottery, completing the mineral production chain. The Mining forms the basis of the economy of the region, especially in periods of major droughts, when agricultural activities become impractical. The artisanal mining (“garimpo”)  is the principal activity on region, causing significant environmental degradation due to lack of planning and specialized professionals.  Development in technology, increasing environmental awareness of the public and private sectors and the implementation of new Laws must inevitably be applied of the mineral sector to adhere to the principles of sustainability of clean development. This work presents the many faces of the small mining of  Picui and offers challenges, questions and opportunities for mining support.

The Núcleo de Estudos de Pegmatitos (N-PEG) is a multidisciplinary study center addressing granitic pegmatites in the most diverse aspects: mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, internal structure, gemology, geochronology, experimental studies, fluid inclusions, associated mineralizations, small-scale and artesanal mining and mine waste recycling. It was created in 2013, at IFPB, Campina Grande campus, subordinate to the Coordination of Technical Courses in Mining. N-PEG arose from the need to disseminate publications addressing granitic pegmatites (many of them not available on the Internet) and share experiences and research with researchers from different regions, in addition to providing scientific support for students and professionals in the area. It has a digital database (in pdf), currently with 6402 publications (scientific articles, theses, dissertations, event summaries, technical reports, among others), with emphasis on pegmatites from the Borborema Pegmatite Province (BPP), located between the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba. The digital database was assembled from the acquisition of publications available on the Internet and in university libraries and private collections, placed in digital media. The samples from the PPB's educational collection of pegmatite minerals were collected in the field or acquired from local miners. A photographic database was created from field trips, aiming to generate a digital photographic atlas. N-PEG has collaborated with the preparation of theses and dissertations from several institutions. The partnership between researchers from IFPB and other national and international institutions has enabled the publication of scientific articles that have generated several citations on the Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar platforms. A research group was recently created with CNPq (https://dgp.cnpq.br/dgp/espelhogrupo/8331635171367817)and a group on the Whatsapp application (https://chat.whatsapp.com/BdANcqYlHclDLugL5uETpC) aiming at greater interaction between researchers. N-PEG makes national and international publications available to researchers and students, in addition to contributing to the advancement of research related to granitic pegmatites.