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| =====Constructing soils for climate-smart mining=====
| | [[Mining Effects]] |
| [https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00862-x by Francisco Ruiz, José Lucas Safanelli, Fabio Perlatti, Maurício Roberto Cherubin, José A. M. Demattê, Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri, Xosé Luis Otero, Cornelia Rumpel & Tiago Osório Ferreira 19/06/2023 Communications Earth & Enviroment] | | |
| Surface mining is inherently linked to climate change, but more precise monitoring of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is necessary. Here we combined the geolocation of mine sites and carbon stock datasets to show that if all legal active mining sites in Brazil are exploited over the next decades, 2.55 Gt of CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) will be emitted due to the loss of vegetation (0.87 Gt CO2eq) and soil (1.68 Gt CO2eq). To offset these emissions, we propose constructing soils (Technosols) from mine and other wastes for mine reclamation. We show that this strategy could potentially offset up to 60% (1.00 Gt CO2eq) of soil-related CO2 emissions. When constructed with suitable parent materials, Technosols can also restore important soil-related ecosystem services while improving waste management. The construction of healthy Technosols stands out as a promising nature-based solution towards carbon-neutral mining and should, therefore, be considered in future environmental policies of major mining countries.
| | [[Logging Effects]] |
| =====For The Navajo Nation, Uranium Mining's Deadly Legacy Lingers=====
| | |
| [https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/10/473547227/for-the-navajo-nation-uranium-minings-deadly-legacy-lingers by Laurel Morales 10/4/16 npr] | | ===== Cost to clean up toxic PFAS pollution could top £1.6tn in UK and Europe ===== |
| The federal government is cleaning up a long legacy of uranium mining within the Navajo Nation — some 27,000 square miles spread across Utah, New Mexico and Arizona that is home to more than 250,000 people.
| | [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/14/cost-clean-up-toxic-pfas-pollution-forever-chemicals by Leana Hosea 14/1/25 The Guardian] |
| =====Strip Mining Worsened the Severity of Deadly Kentucky Floods, Say Former Mining Regulators. They Are Calling for an Investigation=====
| | The cost of cleaning up toxic forever chemical pollution could reach more than £1.6tn across the UK and Europe over a 20-year period, an annual bill of £84bn, research has found. |
| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07082022/strip-mining-flooding-kentucky/ by James Bruggers 7/8/22 Inside Climate News]
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| In past flooding, hydrologists have calculated runoff 1,000 times greater than without mining. Scientists say climate change will intensify heavy rains.
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| =====Deep-Sea Mining—Bonanza or Boondoggle?=====
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| [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/deep-sea-mining/ by Brooke Jarvis 25/6/13 PBS]
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| This is the world of deep sea hydrothermal vents, geothermally active fissures that are often miles beneath the ocean’s surface. It’s also, improbably, the next frontier of the mining industry—the future home of what some are calling a new gold rush.
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| =====Seven Mining, Metals Companies Partner on Responsible Sourcing with World Economic Forum=====
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| [https://www.weforum.org/press/2019/10/seven-mining-metals-companies-partner-on-responsible-sourcing-with-world-economic-forum/ by Amanda Russo 25/10/19 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM] | |
| The Mining and Metals Blockchain Initiative will pool resources and cost, increase speed-to-market and improve industry-wide trust that cannot be achieved by acting individually. It aims to be a neutral enabler for the industry, addressing the lack of standardization and improving efficiency. The intention is to send out a signal of inclusivity and collaboration across the industry. The group will look to develop joint proof-of-concepts for an inclusive blockchain platform. Over time, this could help the industry collectively increase transparency, efficiency or improve reporting of carbon emissions.
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| =====The Wartime Mining Boom Exporting Rare Earths, and Toxins=====
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| [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/world/asia/myanmar-mining-thailand-china.html by Hannah Beech 11/6/25 The New York Times] | |
| Unregulated rare earth mining in Myanmar, directed by Chinese enterprises, is poisoning the Kok and at least three other rivers that flow through Thailand. For months, levels of arsenic and other toxic metals have spiked to dangerous levels in Thai waterways, including the Mekong, government data shows.
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| =====Trump May Approve Strip Mining on Tennessee’s Protected Cumberland Plateau=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13022020/tennessee-coal-mining-trump-administration-cumberland-plateau/ by JAMES BRUGGERS 13/2/20 Inside Climate News]
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| LAFOLLETTE, Tennessee—Even as the nation’s demand for coal tumbles, the Trump administration is considering a permit that would allow strip mining on protected ridgelines in Tennessee’s Cumberland Plateau over the objection of environmental groups and the state’s Republican attorney general.
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| =====How mountaintop mining affects life and landscape in West Virginia===== | |
| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/mountaintop-mining-affects-life-landscape-west-virginia by Miles O'Brien 3/5/17 PBS NEWS]
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| Deep layers of underground coal are all but gone in West Virginia after 200 years of relentless mining, leaving thinner seams of coal on top of the state's beautiful mountains. But surface mining carries a huge cost: nothing less than mountains themselves. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports on how the Appalachian landscape is being fundamentally and irrevocably changed.
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| =====Sago: The Anatomy of Reporting Gone Wrong=====
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| [https://www.npr.org/2006/01/04/5126627/sago-the-anatomy-of-reporting-gone-wrong by David Folkenflik 4/1/06 npr]
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| National news organizations flooded the small mining community of Sago, W. Va., to cover the trapped miners. But mistaken information from seemingly authoritative sources allowed good news to outrace the truth.
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| =====Biden’s order to increase mining to power electric vehicles raises contamination concerns=====
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| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/bidens-order-to-increase-mining-to-power-electric-vehicles-raises-contamination-concerns by Matthew Daly 30/4/22 PBS NEWS]
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| Biden’s action, part of his efforts to find alternatives to fossil fuels and combat climate change, does not waive or suspend existing environmental and labor standards, the White House said. Nor does it address the chief hurdle to increased domestic extraction of so-called critical minerals: the years-long process needed to obtain a federal permit for a new mine.
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| =====In Southern Arizona, Community Opposition to Mining Grows in Towns That Once Depended on the Industry=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08052025/southern-arizona-sky-islands-mining-opposition/ by Wyatt Myskow, Yana Kunichoff 8/5/25 Inside Climate News]
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| A rush of proposals to mine the state’s famed “sky islands” with water drawn from overtaxed aquifers is drawing opposition from people who know the industry’s boom and bust cycles.
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| =====Gold mining leaves heart of Peruvian Amazon a wasteland=====
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| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/gold-mining-leaves-heart-of-peruvian-amazon-a-wasteland by Leo Schwartz 21/9/19 PBS NEWS]
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| A decade of illegal gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon has left thousands of acres of rainforest a wasteland. Unpermitted miners cleared vast sections of trees near Peru's border with Brazil and infused the land with mercury, causing an environmental disaster. But some miners have fled after Peruvian troops moved in. Special correspondent Leo Schwartz reports in the first of a two-part series.
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| =====In Philippines, workers toil among hazards in compressor mining=====
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| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/in-philippines-workers-toil-among-hazards-in-compressor-mining by Richard C. Paddock 27/1/14 PBS NEW]
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| He works on a floating wooden platform in shallow Mambulao Bay in what is one of the world’s most dangerous professions: compressor mining.
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| =====Natural capital accounts: What are they and how can mining companies use them to measure and value nature=====
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| [https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/11/mining-companies-can-measure-and-value-nature-this-is-how/ by Mischa Traynor 23/11/23 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
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| The World Bank estimates that the production of energy-critical minerals will increase 500% by 2050 to meet the growing demand for clean energy infrastructure, such as wind power and electric vehicles.
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| =====In Philippines, workers toil among hazards in compressor mining=====
| |
| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/in-philippines-workers-toil-among-hazards-in-compressor-mining by Richard C. Paddock 27/1/14 PBS NEWS]
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| “Sometimes, I am scared to go down because of the possibility it will collapse,” said Brian, the fourth of nine children in his family. “But I like the job because I get money. I give the money to my parents for food.”
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| =====Natural capital accounts: What are they and how can mining companies use them to measure and value nature=====
| |
| [https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/11/mining-companies-can-measure-and-value-nature-this-is-how/ by Mischa Traynor 23/11/23 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
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| The increasing need for more minerals and metals requires more mining activity, and this can lead to pressure on ecological systems and the environmental, social and economic benefits they support. More than half of the world’s economic output – $44 trillion of economic value generation – is highly or moderately dependent on nature and the biodiversity that underpins our natural systems. Rapid declines in biodiversity, therefore, represent a significant threat to humanity and economic stability.
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| =====Corruption and Rights Abuses Are Flourishing in Lithium Mining Across Africa, a New Report Finds=====
| |
| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15112023/lithium-mining-africa-human-rights-violations-corruption/ by Katie Surma 15/11/23 Inside Climate News]
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| A subsistence miner, he had been searching for chunks of ore in a rubble pile when a security guard at the mine site fired his weapon without warning, family members and local human rights activists said in interviews. Vito died a week later from his injuries.
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| =====How can innovation make mining more sustainable?=====
| |
| [https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/04/sustainable-mining-uplink-radio-davos-podcast/ by Robin Pomeroy 30/4/24 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
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| “Whether it's semiconductors or cars or cellphones or the toothpaste that you use to brush your teeth in the morning, it all depends on the mining industry in one way or the other,” says Vivek Salgaocar, director of the Vimson Group and Prospect Innovation. “So if we can actually tackle these issues at the source, we're truly then greening our supply chain. I think that has very, very far reaching ramifications.”
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| =====Backed by International Investors, Mining Companies Line Up to Expand in or Near the Amazon’s Indigenous Territories=====
| |
| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22022022/backed-by-international-investors-mining-companies-line-up-to-expand-in-or-near-the-amazons-indigenous-territories/ by Katie Surma 22/2/22 Inside Climate News]
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| U.S.-based financial institutions are among their top funders, according to a new report by Amazon Watch and the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous People, or APIB. In the past, those mining companies caused environmental damage that sickened Indigenous communities, stirred social discontent and contributed to the “trail of destruction” of the Amazon rainforest.
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| =====7 ways the mining sector can prepare for the coming economic era=====
| |
| [https://www.weforum.org/stories/2020/11/mining-and-metals-new-economy/ by Jordan Calderon 9/11/20 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
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| The mining and metals industry is facing an unprecedented paradigm shift as it begins to implement new technologies while also managing climate and social challenges. Through raising awareness of these issues, and by focusing on new digital solutions, growing material demand, and investor pressures, the industry can strengthen its foundational role in a rapidly evolving global economy.
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| =====New Ghana mining laws to shorten licence periods, boost community investment=====
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| [https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/new-ghana-mining-laws-shorten-licence-periods-boost-community-investment-2025-07-23/ by Reuters 23/7/25] | |
| ACCRA, July 23 (Reuters) - Ghana plans to shorten mining licence durations and mandate direct revenue-sharing with local communities in its most sweeping mining law reforms in nearly two decades, details of which were announced by a government minister on Wednesday.
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| =====Trump Executive Order Streamlines Mining Permits. Environmentalists Fear What Comes Next=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21032025/trump-order-streamlines-mining-permits/ by Wyatt Myskow 21/3/25 Inside Climate News]
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| President Donald Trump signed an executive order behind closed doors on Thursday that aims to fast-track mining projects across the country and prioritize mineral production on public lands with suitable resources—a decision natural resource lawyers and environmentalists say has the potential to dismantle protected landscapes like national monuments as well as threaten endangered species, waterways and local communities.
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| =====4 ways blockchain will transform the mining and metals industry=====
| |
| [https://www.weforum.org/stories/2018/07/4-ways-blockchain-will-transform-the-mining-and-metals-industry/ by Max Weiland 10/7/18 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
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| The mining and metals industry is a critical component of the global economy. However, many operational and commercial practices remain inefficient and antiquated, leading to critical data omissions, security vulnerabilities and even corruption.
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| =====These Tribal Activists Want Biden To Stop A Planned Lithium Mine On Their Sacred Land=====
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| [https://www.npr.org/2021/09/02/1031726626/these-tribal-activists-want-biden-to-stop-a-planned-lithium-mine-on-their-sacred by Kirk Siegler 2/9/21 npr]
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| McKinney, a Shoshone-Paiute tribal member from the Duck Valley Reservation in Nevada, wears black sunglasses and an American Indian Movement ski hat and tank top, exposing his tattooed, muscled arms. He's one of a dozen or so tribal and environmental activists who started camping here early this year, a peaceful occupation, they say, in protest of a planned lithium mine on federal Bureau of Land Management land.
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| =====Chile's Codelco halts mining projects after reporting second worker death=====
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| [https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chiles-codelco-halts-mining-projects-after-reporting-second-worker-death-2022-07-20/ by Reuters 20/7/22]
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| On Monday, the company announced it would keep construction of its Rajo Inca project halted after reporting the death of one worker after a truck driven by a contractor slid off a platform at a dump while the operator was outside of the control cabin. The truck then slid 40 meters (131 feet) down a slope killing the operator. read more It reported another death at its Chuqui Subterranea project, an expansion of the historical Chuquicamatamining, earlier on Wednesday.
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| =====Fighting the legacy of mining in Lesotho=====
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| [https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2016/6/27/fighting-the-legacy-of-mining-in-lesotho by Caelainn Hogan 27/6/16 ALJAZEERA]
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| Lesotho – On a hard shoulder of the God Help Me Pass, a road snaking through the vast peaks of Lesotho, a landlocked mountain kingdom in southern Africa, men who worked for years underground line up in the bright sun outside a cluster of tents.
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| =====Drilling, Mining Boom Possible But Unlikely Under Trump’s Final Plan for Southern Utah Lands=====
| |
| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07022020/national-monument-extraction-emissons-bear-ears-grand-staircase-escalante/ by Judy Fahys 7/2/20 Inside Climate News]
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| As ominous as it might seem, the Trump administration’s plan to reverse limits on new mining, drilling and development across a vast swath of federal land in southern Utah is unlikely to unleash a fossil fuel bonanza anytime soon.
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| =====Innovation can disrupt the mining industry. These sustainable start-ups are leading the way=====
| |
| [https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/11/13-innovations-making-the-mining-and-metals-industry-more-sustainable/ by Miranda Barker 29/11/24 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
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| The increasing population and the reliance on technology, such as electric vehicles, energy systems and advanced electronics, has raised the demand for minerals and metals like lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements, and copper. This transition necessitates an even greater reliance on these minerals compared to conventional methods. For instance, an electric car requires six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car.
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| =====U.S. mining sites dump 50 million gallons of fouled wastewater daily=====
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| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-mining-sites-dump-50-million-gallons-of-fouled-wastewater-daily by Matthew Brown 20/2/19 PBS NEWS]
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| The pollution is a legacy of how the mining industry was allowed to operate in the U.S. for more than a century. Companies that built mines for silver, lead, gold and other “hardrock” minerals could move on once they were no longer profitable, leaving behind tainted water that still leaks out of the mines or is cleaned up at taxpayer expense.
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| =====Forget about rare earth minerals. We need more copper=====
| |
| [https://www.npr.org/2025/03/16/nx-s1-5327095/copper-rare-earth-minerals-mining-electronics by
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| Scott Neuman 16/3/25 npr]
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| In recent weeks, you've likely heard a lot about rare-earth substances, thanks to President Trump's stalled efforts to secure a minerals deal with Ukraine and his talk of annexing Greenland. These vital substances fuel the growing renewables and electric-vehicle industries. However, many experts warn that the shortage of another crucial metal, used in electronics, wiring and even plumbing could be just as concerning.
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| =====Trump signs executive order boosting deep-sea mining industry=====
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| [https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trump-expected-sign-deep-sea-mining-executive-order-thursday-sources-2025-04-24/ by Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw 24/4/25 Reuters]
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| April 24 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at boosting the deep-sea mining industry, marking his latest attempt to boost U.S. access to nickel, copper and other critical minerals used widely across the economy.
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| =====How 'modern-day slavery' in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery economy=====
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| [https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01/1152893248/red-cobalt-congo-drc-mining-siddharth-kara by Terry Gross 1/2/23 npr]
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| Smartphones, computers and electric vehicles may be emblems of the modern world, but, says Siddharth Kara, their rechargeable batteries are frequently powered by cobalt mined by workers laboring in slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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| ======Panama celebrates court order to cancel mine even as business is hit======
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| [https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/11/30/panama-celebrates-court-order-to-cancel-mine-even-as-business-is-hit by Michael Fox 30/11/23 ALJAZEERA]
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| The country’s Supreme Court of Justice ruled that Panama’s new mining contract with the Canadian company First Quantum was unconstitutional.
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| =====Mining Critical to Renewable Energy Tied to Hundreds of Alleged Human Rights Abuses=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07062023/mining-clean-energy-human-rights/ by Katie Surma 7/6/23 Inside Climate News]
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| The Business and Human Rights Resource Center said the alleged abuses involve global mining for copper, lithium, cobalt, manganese, nickel and zinc, all used in critical renewable technologies like solar panels, vehicle batteries and windmills.
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| =====Arizona Residents Fear What the State’s Mining Boom Will Do to Their Water=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09082024/arizona-copper-mining-water-impact/ by Wyatt Myskow 9/8/24 Inside Climate News]
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| MAMMOTH, Ariz.—Overlooking a ridge in the Galiuro Mountains, one of Arizona’s famed Sky Islands that provide refuges for wildlife in the hot Sonoran Desert, Melissa Crytzer Fry and her husband, Steve, stand above what could one day become an underground mine.
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| =====As the US Rushes After the Minerals for the Energy Transition, a 150-Year-Old Law Allows Mining Companies Free Rein on Public Lands=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13032022/as-the-us-rushes-after-the-minerals-for-the-energy-transition-a-150-year-old-law-allows-mining-companies-free-reign-on-public-lands/ by Jim Robbins 13/3/22 Inside Climate News]
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| A new open pit lithium mine was approved last year at Thacker Pass in Nevada, on publicly owned land managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management, to tap into this country’s largest known deposit of the mineral, worth nearly $4 billion.
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| =====Why innovation in the mining sector is critical for the energy transition=====
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| [https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/11/why-innovation-in-the-mining-sector-is-critical-for-the-energy-transition/ by Vivek Salgaocar 2/11/22 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
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| Amid our global energy transition, corporations and governments are conscientiously building pathways to decarbonize our energy sources. These efforts hinge on how readily we embrace renewable energy sources, yet even renewable-based technologies require a massive input of materials, including metals and minerals. Conversely, they are more material intensive than traditional fossil-fuel-based systems, which creates a vital caveat in the global push to decarbonize.
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| =====In a Deep Red State, a Mining Regulator Is Wary of Possible Trump Cuts to Its Budget=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13062025/alabama-mining-regulator-wary-of-possible-trump-cuts/ by Lee Hedgepeth 13/6/25 Inside Climate News]
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| The Department of Interior makes that clear, or at least that is how she reads Title V of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. And “nobody wants that,” said Love, who heads the Alabama Surface Mining Commission. She met Thursday with commissioners and explained some of the budget woes still brewing in Washington.
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| =====Indigenous mining complicates Brazil's fight against illegal gold=====
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| [https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/indigenous-mining-complicates-brazils-fight-against-illegal-gold-2024-12-02/ by Ricardo Brito and Adriano Machado 2/12/24 Reuters]
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| JACAREACANGA, Brazil, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The involvement of Indigenous people in illegal gold hunting, lured by the prospect of easy money due to record prices, has made Brazil's task of cracking down on wildcat mining in the Amazon far harder, environmental agents and police say. | |
| =====Failure of State: For Decades, Alabama’s Mining Regulator Has Left Citizens Unprotected=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22122024/alabama-coal-mine-regulators-fail-to-protect-residents/ by Lee Hedgepeth 22/12/24 Inside Climate News]
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| Alabamians have for decades been raising their voices about the risks of longwall mining, an aggressive method of extracting coal that has left sinking homes in its wake and increased the risks of an explosive gas seeping to the surface.
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| =====Clean Mining a Deception in Kentucky, Groups Say=====
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| [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/us/clean-mining-a-deception-in-kentucky-groups-say.html by Michael Wines 17/11/14 The New York Times]
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| In a state where coal-country creeks run red with iron, Frasure Creek Mining has been unusually clean of late: Amid tens of thousands of measurements that it submitted to Kentucky regulators in 2013 and early 2014, fewer than 400 exceeded the state’s limits for water pollution from coal-mine runoff.
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| =====Mining is necessary for the green transition. Here’s why experts say we need to do it better=====
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| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/mining-is-necessary-for-the-green-transition-heres-why-experts-say-we-need-to-do-it-better by Bella Isaacs-Thomas 8/12/23 PBS NEWS]
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| Before a solar panel can be installed on a roof or an electric bus can hit the streets, manufacturers first have to get their hands on key metals and minerals. But to meet the demands of the transition away from fossil fuels, experts say more sustainable approaches are needed to minimize the effects the mining industry can have on the planet, people and their communities.
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| =====Connected, safe, intelligent – mining in the modern age=====
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| [https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/06/connected-safe-intelligent-mining-in-the-modern-age/ by Zou Zhilei 26/6/23 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
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| The days of mines as dirty and dangerous workplaces are ending. Digital technologies are empowering the mining industry to become cleaner and safer for workers. Technological change chimes in with a transition in the underlying logic of mining. Formerly, the major way to increase mining output was to add sites and staff. In light of price volatility, shortages in talent and other hurdles, the industry is now transitioning from this method to one of intensifying the use of existing sites instead.
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| =====Deep Sea Mining Negotiations Resume Amid Industry Pushback and Environmental Alarm=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17072025/deep-sea-mining-negotiations-resume-amid-industry-pushback/ by Teresa Tomassoni 17/7/25 Inside Climate News]
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| The three-week summit is dedicated to finalizing a long-debated set of rules known as the Mining Code that would govern how, when and where companies could extract cobalt, nickel and manganese from the ocean floor. These metals are often found in potato sized rock-like mineral deposits called polymetallic nodules. But progress towards adopting the code remains uncertain as critics raise mounting concerns about the harm the industry would cause to marine life.
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| =====Tailings Dams: Where Mining Waste is Stored Forever=====
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| [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/tailings-dams-where-mining-waste-is-stored-forever/ by Gretchen Gavett 30/7/12 PBS NEWS]
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| Imagine a big hole in the ground, similar to the one pictured above. Now imagine that pit filled with up to 10 billion tons of tailings — waste that’s derived from mining — that will remain there forever.
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| =====Demand for minerals sparks fear of mining abuses on Indigenous peoples' lands=====
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| [https://www.npr.org/2024/01/29/1226125617/demand-for-minerals-sparks-fear-of-mining-abuses-on-indigenous-peoples-lands by Julia Simon 19/1/24 npr]
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| WIKIEUP, Ariz. — In the desert hills of western Arizona, Ivan Bender drives his ATV to inspect holes in the ground. The holes are near the property of the Hualapai tribe, and an Australian mining company drilled them in recent years as it explores for lithium, a key metal in many electric vehicle batteries.
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| =====In Canada’s ‘Silicon Valley’ of Mining, Speculators Power a Hunt for Alaska’s Minerals=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17062025/vancouver-canada-mining-speculators-hunt-alaska-minerals/ by Max Graham, Northern Journal 17/6/25 Inside Climate News]
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| VANCOUVER, British Columbia—On a January evening, dozens of people crammed into a banquet space at the glitzy Pan Pacific Hotel overlooking Vancouver’s waterfront.
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| =====An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It=====
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| [https://www.npr.org/2018/12/18/675253856/an-epidemic-is-killing-thousands-of-coal-miners-regulators-could-have-stopped-it by Howard Berkes 18/12/18 npr]
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| Greg Kelly's grandson, Caden, scampers to the tree-shaded creek behind his grandfather's house to catch crawdads, as Kelly shuffles along, trying to keep up. Kelly's small day pack holds an oxygen tank with a clear tube clipped to his nose. He has chairs spaced out on the short route so he can stop every few minutes, sit down and catch his breath, until he has enough wind and strength to start out again for the creek.
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| =====Papua New Guinea leaders struggle to monitor deep-sea mining activities off its coast=====
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| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/papua-new-guinea-leaders-struggle-to-monitor-deep-sea-mining-activities-off-its-coast by Willem Marx 19/9/24 PBS NEWS]
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| Governments often struggle to move quickly when it comes to regulating new industries or products. One area where international organizations and governments around the world have failed to agree on regulation is far out at sea beyond national maritime boundaries.
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| =====Trump Admin. Halts Mountaintop Mining Health Risks Study by National Academies=====
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| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21082017/mountaintop-mining-coal-health-study-scrapped-trump/ by Phil McKenna 21/8/17 Inside Climate News]
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| The Trump administration has ordered a halt to an independent study looking at potential health risks to people living near mountaintop mining sites in Appalachia.
| |
| =====Peru's Nazca Lines face mining threat after protected area slashed=====
| |
| [https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/perus-nazca-lines-face-mining-threat-after-protected-area-slashed-2025-06-04/ by Reuters 4/6/25]
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| Peru's Culture Ministry last week slashed the protected zone from 5,600 to 3,200 square kilometers, attributing the move to topographical and archaeological studies that more precisely demarcated areas with "real patrimonial value."
| |
| =====TSX moves closer to record peak as gold mining shares rally=====
| |
| [https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/sustainable-finance-reporting/tsx-futures-tick-higher-investors-await-tariff-updates-2025-07-09/ by Fergal Smith 9/7/25 Reuters]
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| July 9 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Wednesday, with the materials group leading a broad-based advance as gains for U.S. technology shares fed recent investor exuberence.
| |
| =====Your Next Car May Be Built With Ocean Rocks. Scientists Can't Agree If That's Good=====
| |
| [https://www.npr.org/2021/09/03/1031434711/your-next-car-may-be-built-with-ocean-rocks-scientists-cant-agree-if-thats-good by Alexandra Gillespie 3/9/21 npr]
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| Sprawling fields of rocks about the size of your fist coat the Pacific seabed. Below miles of ocean, these nodules burst with copper, nickel, manganese and cobalt, all key to building batteries for electric vehicles.
| |
| =====Coal Mining Emits More Super-Polluting Methane Than Venting and Flaring From Gas and Oil Wells, a New Study Finds=====
| |
| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/15032022/coal-mining-methane/ by Phil McKenna 15/3/22 Inside Climate News]
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| Methane emissions from coal mines worldwide exceed those from the global oil or gas sectors and are significantly higher than prior estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency and the International Energy Agency, a new Global Energy Monitor report concludes.
| |
| =====Appalachia’s Strip-Mined Mountains Face a Growing Climate Risk: Flooding=====
| |
| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21112019/appalachia-mountains-flood-risk-climate-change-coal-mining-west-virginia-extreme-rainfall-runoff-analysis/ by James Bruggers 21/11/19 Inside Climate News]
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| The tranquil scene belies the devastation the creek delivered one night a decade ago as heavy rain fell on soggy soil and thousands of acres of nearby strip mines. Witnesses spoke of awakening in the dark of May 9, 2009, to the sound of rushing water like they had never heard before, entering their homes from underneath their doors.
| |
| =====Australia digs in as top destination for mining listings=====
| |
| [https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/australia-digs-top-destination-mining-listings-2025-03-24/ by Melanie Burton and Divya Rajagopal 23/3/25 Reuters]
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| The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is growing its market share in metals and mining partly at the expense of Toronto and London rivals, just as the sector needs to expand by $100 billion a year to produce the metals needed to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, industry figures show.
| |
| =====Australia digs in as top destination for mining listings=====
| |
| [https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/australia-digs-top-destination-mining-listings-2025-03-24/ by Melanie Burton and Divya Rajagopal 23/3/25 Reuters]
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| The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is growing its market share in metals and mining partly at the expense of Toronto and London rivals, just as the sector needs to expand by $100 billion a year to produce the metals needed to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, industry figures show.
| |
| =====Deep-Sea Mining Could Help the Clean Energy Transition. But Is It Worth the Risk?=====
| |
| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01072022/deep-sea-mining-could-help-the-clean-energy-transition-but-is-it-worth-the-risk/ by Kristoffer Tigue 1/7/22 Inside Climate News]
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| Three Pacific island nations announced this week that they had formed a new alliance calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining until the environmental risks of the nascent industry are better understood and appropriate regulations are put in place. Whether countries should be allowed to extract minerals from the seafloor has become an increasingly important debate as countries race to find the metals needed for batteries that will power the clean energy transition.
| |
| =====Focus: Chile's parched mines race for an increasingly scarce commodity: water=====
| |
| [https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chiles-parched-mines-race-an-increasingly-scarce-commodity-water-2022-05-06/ by Fabian Cambero 6/5/22 Reuters]
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| SANTIAGO, May 6 (Reuters) - A record-breaking drought in Chile is impacting mining operations and forcing companies to escalate their search for more sources of water, from water treatment and pricey desalination plants to even encouraging workers to use less water in the shower.
| |
| =====The cobalt mining industry is a human rights failure - here's what needs to be done=====
| |
| [https://www.weforum.org/stories/2020/01/how-to-secure-clean-cobalt/ by Anna Pienaar 10/1/20 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM]
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| The wealth of companies purchasing cobalt for use in everything from mobile phones to cars and the wretchedness of those who pick it from the ground with their bare hands, in some cases at the risk of death is a global public scandal.
| |
| =====Could Robots Replace Humans in Mines?=====
| |
| [https://www.npr.org/2007/08/09/12637032/could-robots-replace-humans-in-mines by Eric Weiner 9/8/07 npr]
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| It's an increasingly urgent question, given the recent high-profile mining accidents in Sago, W.Va., and Huntington, Utah. A small corps of engineers and robotics experts envision a day in the not-too-distant future when robots and other technology do most of the dangerous mining work, and even help rescue trapped miners, like the six men trapped in a mine in Utah.
| |
| =====In the race for space metals, companies hope to cash in=====
| |
| [https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/05/in-the-race-for-space-metals-companies-hope-to-cash-in/ by Sarah Scoles, Undark 12/5/24 ars Technica]
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| Potential applications of space-mined material abound: Asteroids contain metals like platinum and cobalt, which are used in electronics and electric vehicle batteries, respectively. Although there are plenty of these materials on Earth, they can be more concentrated on asteroids than mountainsides, making them easier to scrape out. And scraping in space, advocates say, could cut down on the damaging impacts that mining has on this planet. Space-resource advocates also want to explore the potential of other substances. What if space ice could be used for spacecraft and rocket propellant? Space dirt for housing structures for astronauts and radiation shielding?
| |
| =====S African gold miners gun for mining firms=====
| |
| [https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/12/26/s-african-gold-miners-gun-for-mining-firms by Ilham Rawoot 26/12/12 ALJAZEERA]
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| The powerful words reflect a scourge that has stalked South African miners for more than century. Now, the prevalance of tuberculosis, silicosis and other occupational lung diseases have spurred the biggest class action lawsuit the country has seen.
| |
| =====China accelerates coal mining to ensure winter power supply=====
| |
| [https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/china-accelerates-coal-mining-ensure-winter-power-supply-kemp-2024-08-28/ by John Kemp 28/8/24 Reuters]
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| LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - China has boosted domestic coal production and imports to record highs, even as surging power from hydro dams and solar farms has trimmed thermal generation during the summer heatwave.
| |
| =====Sand Mining In Cambodia And Dams Upstream Threaten Mekong River=====
| |
| [https://www.npr.org/2020/02/17/806729347/sand-mining-in-cambodia-and-dams-upstream-threaten-mekong-river by Michael Sullivan 17/2/20 npr]
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| MICHAEL SULLIVAN, BYLINE: In the capital Phnom Penh, a construction boom is transforming the city. High rises are replacing the low-slung French colonial architecture, and sand from the Mekong sediment is used to make concrete that's key to that growth, says government mineral resources Director-General Yos Monirath.
| |
| =====‘Gentleman’s Agreement’: Despite Mining Ban, Russia Scours Antarctica for Massive Fossil Fuel Deposits=====
| |
| [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/peril-and-promise/2022/05/gentlemans-agreement-despite-mining-ban-russia-scours-antarctica-for-massive-fossil-fuel-deposits/ by Tiara Walters 23/5/22 PBS]
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| Despite the 1998 Antarctic mining ban — ratified by Russia and 28 other states — some of the so-called loot in the Kremlin’s crosshairs appears cached within large marine sedimentary basins off East Antarctica’s Indian Ocean sector.
| |
| =====Who Did This To Peru's Jungle?=====
| |
| [https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/05/17/398765777/who-did-this-to-perus-jungle by Jason Beaubien 17/5/15 npr]
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| In the 21st century, the demand for gold is once again having a profound effect on Peru. As world gold prices have risen over the last decade to record highs, thousands of subsistence farmers from the Peruvian Andes have flooded east into the Amazon basin in hopes of uncovering tiny specks of the metal. A decade ago, when gold was trading at $400 an ounce, deposits in old riverbeds wouldn't have been worth pawing through. They became incredibly attractive as the price of gold shot up to as much as $1,800 an ounce.
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| =====China's Zijin Mining to invest $380 mln in Argentina lithium plant=====
| |
| [https://www.reuters.com/article/business/chinas-zijin-mining-to-invest-380-mln-in-argentina-lithium-plant-idUSL6N2UF06P/ by Reuters 4/2/22]
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| BUENOS AIRES, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Chinese mining firm Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd will invest $380 million to construct a lithium carbonate plant in Argentina via local subsidiary Liex, the country's Ministry of Production said on Friday.
| |
| =====Grisly Peru mining murders spotlight 'gold curse' in the Andes=====
| |
| [https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/grisly-peru-mining-murders-spotlight-gold-curse-andes-2025-05-07/ by Sebastian Castaneda and Marco Aquino 7/5/25 Reuters]
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| TRUJILLO, Peru, May 7 (Reuters) - Peruvian mining sector worker Frank Monzón was aware of the risks, but the lure of gold deep in the Andean rock of northern Pataz province outweighed the danger. Now he and 12 others are dead in one of the country's worst mining massacres.
| |
| =====The race for electric vehicle parts leads to risky deep-ocean mining=====
| |
| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/the-race-for-electric-vehicle-parts-leads-to-risky-deep-ocean-mining by Tatiana Schlossberg 4/8/21 PBS]
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| Nauru, lying about halfway across the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean between Australia and Hawaii, is the world’s smallest island nation. But in the emerging industry of deep-sea mining, it punches far above its weight.
| |
| =====Treasure and Turmoil in the Deep Sea=====
| |
| [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/opinion/deep-ocean-mining-pollution.html by By Steven H.D. Haddock and C. Anela Choy 14/8/20 The New York Times]
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| There is treasure in the sea, and much of it lies in plain view on the deep ocean floor. Fields of metallic nodules and towering hydrothermal chimneys accumulate precious and industrially prized metals, estimated to be worth many billions to even trillions of dollars.
| |
| =====The weirdest ways scientists are mining for critical minerals, from water to weeds=====
| |
| [https://grist.org/energy/the-weirdest-ways-scientists-are-mining-for-critical-minerals-from-water-to-weeds/ by Grist Staff 26/3/25 Grist]
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| Since ancient history, mining has been a dirty business. While we’ve developed new tools, chemicals, machines, and techniques, most of today’s mining still boils down to digging in the dirt. As the world ramps up production of the technologies it needs to move away from fossil fuels, this widespread disturbance of Earth and ecosystems will continue in the accelerating search for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare-earth elements.
| |
| =====Nations Denounce Deep Sea Mining Company’s Bid to Exploit Metals in the Pacific Under US Law=====
| |
| [https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29072025/nations-denounce-deep-sea-mining-bid-pacific-us/ by Teresa Tomassoni 29/7/25 Inside Climate News]
| |
| As delegates from member states of the International Seabed Authority entered the third and final week of high-stakes negotiations on deep-sea mining, they condemned a move made earlier this year by The Metals Co. to bypass the authority’s protocols by applying for a permit to mine in international waters under U.S. law.
| |
| =====Mining is an environmental and human rights nightmare. Battery recycling can ease that.=====
| |
| [https://grist.org/energy/mining-is-an-environmental-and-human-rights-nightmare-battery-recycling-can-ease-that/ by Tik Root 26/3/25 Grist]
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| Rows of dead batteries stretch across some 30 acres of high desert, organized in piles and boxes that are covered to shield them from the western Nevada sun. This vast field is where Redwood Materials stores the batteries it harvests from electric vehicles, laptops, toothbrushes, and the litany of other gadgets powered by lithium-ion technology. They now await recycling at what is the largest such facility in the country.
| |
| =====Metal mining on land versus the ocean in the context of the current Biodiversity Crisis=====
| |
| [https://www.nature.com/articles/s44183-025-00110-z by Verena Tunnicliffe 5/3/25 npj]
| |
| As climate change and biodiversity loss intensify, the deep seabed beckons as a source of metals for batteries. Initiating this new exploitation conflicts with international agreements to decelerate biodiversity loss through wider protections of ecosystem integrity. The poor record of terrestrial mining must not be an excuse to mine the ocean floor. Improved oversight and biodiversity protection as miners increase production on land will produce a better global biodiversity outcome.
| |
| =====A destructive industry=====
| |
| [https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/deep-sea-mining/ by Greenpeace]
| |
| The global Greenpeace network is working to prevent a new destructive extractive industry from ever getting started in the oceans. Our position: no deep sea mining, not ever! To achieve that, we are joining Pacific Island communities, champion nations, environmentally concerned companies, and dozens of allied organizations across the globe in calling for a UN moratorium on deep sea mining.
| |
| =====Report finds that mines and other brownfields are an untapped resource for accelerating the clean energy transition.=====
| |
| [https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-priorities/tackle-climate-change/climate-change-stories/mining-the-sun-solar-energy-former-mine-sites/ by Nels Johnson 18/7/24 The Nature Conservancy]
| |
| Fortunately, there’s a promising solution. Mining the Sun, a report by The Nature Conservancy, suggests that siting clean energy infrastructure on degraded lands like mining sites, landfills and brownfields can be a win-win solution for climate, conservation and communities.
| |
| =====Biomass carbon emissions from nickel mining have significant implications for climate action=====
| |
| [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55703-y by Evelyn M. Mervine 8/1/25 nature communications]
| |
| Commitments to boost low-carbon energy production and end deforestation by 2030 were two key outcomes of the COP 28 conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change1. Together, these measures could make substantial progress towards mitigating anthropogenic climate change and limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius2. However, their effects are not independent, and, without careful planning, progress on one could undermine the achievement of the other.
| |
| =====Mining: A Toxic Legacy for Nevada=====
| |
| [https://www.sierraclub.org/toiyabe/mining-toxic-legacy-for-nevada by Sierra Club]
| |
| Families across the country live with pollution from irresponsible mining, and taxpayers—not polluters—too often pay for a cleanup bill which has reached $50 billion. Why? Because our mining laws were written 150 years ago for pick and shovel miners. They’re out of touch and out of scale with modern industrial hardrock mining, and desperately need to be updated. We need mining laws that will allow taxpayers to be fairly compensated for the wealth private corporations extract from publc lands, to protect drinking water, the environment, and communities, and to hold mining companies responsible for their pollution.
| |
| =====Weaning the world off fossil fuels is going to take a whole lot of metal.=====
| |
| [https://grist.org/series/unearthed-mining-issue/ by Jake Bittle 26/3/25 Grist]
| |
| The world needs massive amounts of critical minerals to power the transition to clean energy. But as countries and industries explore new mining opportunities, a major question looms: Can all of this extraction be done without the same environmental and human costs associated with fossil fuels?
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