Pneumoconioses make up a group of lung diseases related to exposure to mineral dusts in work environments. This is a public health problem as such diseases could have already been eradicated in Brazil with the use of control measures in such environments. The aim in this paper was to map the distribution of deaths due to pneumoconioses in the different Brazilian geographical areas and states through an ecological survey carried out among the working population older than 15 years. The preliminary results of this investigation in the Brazilian macro regions in the period from 1979 to 1998 are presented. This study used mortality data from the Mortality Information System of Datasus - Data Processing Department of the Unified Health System, including codes from International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 9 and ICD 10. The results showed an increase of the coefficient of deaths due to pneumoconioses per 1 million inhabitants per year throughout this period. The shift from ICD 9 to ICD 10 showed an increase in the frequency of deaths, which was twice as high. As a conclusion, the coefficients of deaths due to pneumoconiosis does not describe this problem adequately, thus obscuring the transcendence and magnitude of the disease. To obtain more representative indicators it is necessary to know the population really exposed and the territorial distribution of the disease.