Effects-Resource Extraction
From WikiDemocracy
Constructing soils for climate-smart mining
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.
For The Navajo Nation, Uranium Mining's Deadly Legacy Lingers
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.
Strip Mining Worsened the Severity of Deadly Kentucky Floods, Say Former Mining Regulators. They Are Calling for an Investigation
by James Bruggers 7/8/22 Inside Climate News
In past flooding, hydrologists have calculated runoff 1,000 times greater than without mining. Scientists say climate change will intensify heavy rains.
Deep-Sea Mining—Bonanza or Boondoggle?
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.
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.
The Wartime Mining Boom Exporting Rare Earths, and Toxins
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.
Trump May Approve Strip Mining on Tennessee’s Protected Cumberland Plateau
by JAMES BRUGGERS 13/2/20 Inside Climate News
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.
How mountaintop mining affects life and landscape in West Virginia
by Miles O'Brien 3/5/17 PBS NEWS
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.
Sago: The Anatomy of Reporting Gone Wrong
by David Folkenflik 4/1/06 npr
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.
Biden’s order to increase mining to power electric vehicles raises contamination concerns
by Matthew Daly 30/4/22 PBS NEWS
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.
In Southern Arizona, Community Opposition to Mining Grows in Towns That Once Depended on the Industry
by Wyatt Myskow, Yana Kunichoff 8/5/25 Inside Climate News
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.
Gold mining leaves heart of Peruvian Amazon a wasteland
by Leo Schwartz 21/9/19 PBS NEWS
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.
In Philippines, workers toil among hazards in compressor mining
by Richard C. Paddock 27/1/14 PBS NEW
He works on a floating wooden platform in shallow Mambulao Bay in what is one of the world’s most dangerous professions: compressor mining.
Natural capital accounts: What are they and how can mining companies use them to measure and value nature
by Mischa Traynor 23/11/23 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
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.
In Philippines, workers toil among hazards in compressor mining
by Richard C. Paddock 27/1/14 PBS NEWS
“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.”
Natural capital accounts: What are they and how can mining companies use them to measure and value nature
by Mischa Traynor 23/11/23 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
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.
Corruption and Rights Abuses Are Flourishing in Lithium Mining Across Africa, a New Report Finds
by Katie Surma 15/11/23 Inside Climate News
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.
How can innovation make mining more sustainable?
by Robin Pomeroy 30/4/24 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
“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.”
Backed by International Investors, Mining Companies Line Up to Expand in or Near the Amazon’s Indigenous Territories
by Katie Surma 22/2/22 Inside Climate News
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.
7 ways the mining sector can prepare for the coming economic era
by Jordan Calderon 9/11/20 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
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.
New Ghana mining laws to shorten licence periods, boost community investment
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.
Trump Executive Order Streamlines Mining Permits. Environmentalists Fear What Comes Next
by Wyatt Myskow 21/3/25 Inside Climate News
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.
4 ways blockchain will transform the mining and metals industry
by Max Weiland 10/7/18 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
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.
These Tribal Activists Want Biden To Stop A Planned Lithium Mine On Their Sacred Land
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.
Chile's Codelco halts mining projects after reporting second worker death
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.
Fighting the legacy of mining in Lesotho
by Caelainn Hogan 27/6/16 ALJAZEERA
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.
Drilling, Mining Boom Possible But Unlikely Under Trump’s Final Plan for Southern Utah Lands
by Judy Fahys 7/2/20 Inside Climate News
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.
Innovation can disrupt the mining industry. These sustainable start-ups are leading the way
by Miranda Barker 29/11/24 WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
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.
U.S. mining sites dump 50 million gallons of fouled wastewater daily
by Matthew Brown 20/2/19 PBS NEWS
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.
