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Kathy Ramos, 17, carries her son Edson near the Patarcocha lagoon, which is used as a dump for sewage and human waste, in the mining town of Cerro de Pasco, Peru. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Lawsuit demands accountability for Cerro de Pasco mining pollution in Peru

Maxwell Radwin 16 Jun 2026
Wild horses gallop on the Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Indian Reservation near McDermitt, Nevada. Image by AP Photo / Rick Bowmer.

U.S. defense spending on critical minerals surges in the last decade

Aimee Gabay 10 Jun 2026
Deep-sea glass squid

Experts say ‘bare bones’ US laws are unfit to regulate nascent deep-sea mining industry

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 9 Jun 2026
Model of Jiaolong submersible at the Five-Year Achievements Exhibition. Image by N509FZ via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How we tracked China’s deep-sea mining fleet

Elizabeth Claire Alberts, Kara Fox 1 Jun 2026
A glass octopus, a nearly transparent species whose only visible features are its optic nerve, eyeballs and digestive tract.

As economic case for deep-sea mining weakens, industry should halt urgency to begin operation (commentary)

Andy Whitmore 28 May 2026

Peru’s Quellaveco mine tied to water scarcity, contamination, investigation finds

Maxwell Radwin 26 May 2026
A miner in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023. Image by Electronics Watch via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).

‘Corporate capture’ of critical minerals risks repeating DRC’s extractive past, warns indigenous leader

David Akana 22 May 2026
A PT IWIP worker walks through the cafeteria after work in early July 2025

Indonesia’s nickel boom linked to rising illness and worker harm, reports find

Rabul Sawal, Yulia Adiningsih 19 May 2026

Tensions rise in DRC mining region as community leaders arrested over protest

Elodie Toto 15 May 2026
Kenyan President William Ruto speaks during an event at the recently-concluded Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi. Image courtesy of the Presidency of Kenya.

Kenya’s Ruto rejects “raw mineral export” future for Africa

David Akana 13 May 2026
Small-scale miners in Shinyanga District Council, panning soil believed to contain gold. Image courtesy of Shaaban Njia.

Tanzania cracks down on mining sector, aims for inclusivity and sustainability

Nkwimba Nkwimba 7 May 2026

Asia’s last great free-flowing river faces toxic contamination crisis

Mongabay.com 7 May 2026

Venezuela tells UN court that mineral-rich part of Guyana was ‘fraudulently’ taken in colonial era

Associated Press 6 May 2026

DRC copper exports to US set to surge amid warnings of corruption risk

Elodie Toto 1 May 2026
Children and adults cleaning and washing minerals in Kakanda, DRC. Image by Didier Makal/ Mongabay.

UN report flags disproportionate costs of clean energy transition

Victoria Schneider 30 Apr 2026
Baudin’s black cockatoo flying

Black cockatoo species caught in the crosshairs of global race for minerals

Aimee Gabay 29 Apr 2026
Fabrice Basile, chargé d’affaires at the European Union Delegation in Kinshasa. Image by David Akana/Mongabay.

‘True success’ is a DRC that no longer needs outside help: Interview with EU envoy Fabrice Basile

David Akana 29 Apr 2026
Nickel mining on Manuran Island. Image courtesy of Auriga Nusantara.

Deforestation is surging in Indonesia

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Apr 2026

Canada offers mines and more in $730b investment bid slammed as unsustainable

David Brown 23 Apr 2026
Excavations at the mine, which has been found to be the source of the pollution in two rivers in Karonga district. Image by Jordan Simeon Phiri for Mongabay.

Malawi government suspends coal miner’s license over river pollution

Charles Mpaka 20 Apr 2026
Pa Haw, father of Saw Si Paw, takes to the Salween River each morning to inspect their nets for fish, despite heavy metal contamination linked to mining sites upstream. Photo by Gerald Flynn/Mongabay.

Asia’s longest free-flowing river contaminated by arsenic linked to Myanmar mines

Gerald Flynn 20 Apr 2026
Bags of cobalt powder ready for export from Chemaf’s mines in the DRC. Image by Didier Makal/Mongabay.

Virtus Minerals signs first major deal under US-DRC critical minerals partnership

Ashoka Mukpo 17 Apr 2026
A squat lobster in the deep sea.

Deep-sea wildernesses are more important than the promise of seafloor mining (analysis)

Andrew D. Thaler 14 Apr 2026

Repeated failures expose gaps in Indonesia’s nickel waste management

Hans Nicholas Jong 13 Apr 2026

Argentina approves Milei’s bill that eases protections for glaciers despite environmental backlash

Associated Press 9 Apr 2026
Collage of the 24 new Amphipod species identified in Clarion-Clipperton Zone, CC BY, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton

24 new species found in ocean zone eyed for battery metals mining

Liz Kimbrough 9 Apr 2026
Nickel mining on Manuran Island. Image courtesy of Auriga Nusantara.

Indonesia’s deforestation surges 66% in 2025, reversing years of decline

Hans Nicholas Jong 3 Apr 2026
Dump trucks maneuver at Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park in North Maluku province, June 2024.

US-Indonesia trade deal slammed as ‘extractive colonialism’ over mining, fossil fuels

Hans Nicholas Jong 27 Mar 2026
Lubumbashi River, at the level of the Kalubwe bridge, where significant fish mortality was reported in November 2025. Image by Ruth Kutemba.

4 months after DRC mine spill, residents remain impacted

Ruth Kutemba, Elodie Toto 26 Mar 2026
The Diavik diamond mine in northwestern Canada. Image from Google Maps.

Canada invests $1m into mining exploration on Indigenous land

Shanna Hanbury 25 Mar 2026

China’s deep-sea mining fleet may also track US submarines

Elizabeth Claire Alberts, Kara Fox 24 Mar 2026

Vatican launches campaign to encourage divestment from mining industries

Associated Press 20 Mar 2026

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