Resumo. The main goal was to understand the dynamic process of vegetation colonizing an area degraded by the extraction of gold. The study area was stratified into three environments and, in each environment, contiguous ten plots of 100m 2 each were allocated. For the realization of the dynamics, two surveys of shrub-tree with level of inclusion (DAS30 > 3 cm) were carried out. The first one was realized in 2008 and second in 2010. In 2010, the new individuals that met the criterion for inclusion (recruits) were marked and measured, the dead registered and the survivors were measured again. The rates of mortality, recruitment, gain and loss in basal area of each environment were calculated and it became evident the importance of dynamics as a tool to help understand the relationships of ecological succession of species. The Shannon diversity index among the three environments were compared by t-test of Hutcheson and it was used the analysis of indicator species to determine species preferences of each of the three pre-determined environments.The total number of individuals passed of 707 to 909 in two years of interval, reinforcing the importance of natural regeneration processes of ecological succession. The environment II remained the most abundant one despite it presented a high mortality rate, which can be explained by the high rate of recruitment. The species Eremanthus incanus, Trembleya laniflora, Trembleya parviflora, Roupala montana, Coccoloba brasiliensis and Tibouchina candoleana, presented higher importance of value in the two surveys, showing superiority in the colonization of the area degraded by the extraction of gold and could be indicated in programs for the recuperation of degraded areas that are in similar conditions in the region of Diamantina municipality.