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Ofelia Samboni an Indigenous Yanacona member and landowner in Monclart, holds a stone containing copper. The stone was found in the river close to the mining area. Image by Antonio Cascio for Mongabay.

‘Clean energy is just one driver of mining’: Cleodie Rickard on critical minerals

Aimee Gabay 13 Nov 2025

Expedition charts Cook Islands seafloor, amid scrutiny over mining motives

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 6 Nov 2025

Congo Basin communities bear the costs of industrial expansion

David Akana 5 Nov 2025
Mount Mulanje in southeastern Malawi. Known as the “Island in the Sky,” Mount Mulanje, with 13 peaks and high-altitude basins, is rich in biodiversity with over 70 endemic species and provides surrounding communities with freshwater, natural forest products and essential protection from storms. Image by David Davies, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr

‘A big no’: Opposition grows to proposed mine in Malawi’s newest UNESCO site

Ruth Kamnitzer 4 Nov 2025

Critical minerals drive legalization of mining on Amazon Indigenous lands

Lucas Berti 3 Nov 2025
Communities in the Salinas Grandes and Laguna de Guayatayoc Basin have activities such as livestock farming, agriculture, crafts and tourism. Image courtesy of Clemente Flores.

Lithium mining may threaten a precious resource — water: Voices from the land (commentary)

Clemente Flores 27 Oct 2025
Leaching ponds have been drilled into the mountains of Laos, using a mix of toxic chemicals to separate the rare earth minerals from the other materials siphoned out of the ground. Image supplied by source.

Rare earth mining expands into Laos, threatening entire Mekong River

Mongabay 27 Oct 2025
The Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita), an endangered species and one of the rarest felines in the Americas, in the central Andes of Chile. Image courtesy of Rodrigo Villalobos.

Researchers fear Chile copper project may threaten rare Andean cat population

Aimee Gabay 23 Oct 2025
Cerro Rico mountain above the city of Potosí, Bolivia.

In the heart of Bolivia, the mountain that financed an empire risks collapsing

Benjamin Swift 22 Oct 2025
Mamá Conchita in her chagra with her dogs.

Indigenous women and the path to a just energy transition: Voices from the land (commentary)

Galina Angarova, Daniela De León 20 Oct 2025
Flowing from Myanmar into Thailand, the Kok River carries toxic runoff from rare earth mines into Chiang Mai province. Image supplied by Brian Eyler.

More Thai rivers and downstream communities at risk from Myanmar’s rare earth mines

Mongabay 20 Oct 2025
Deforestation for nickel mining in Gag Island, Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Image courtesy of Auriga Nusantara.

Nickel mining threatens Raja Ampat ecosystems, communities & conservation: Report

Basten Gokkon 16 Oct 2025
In February, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva praised planned investments by Vale during a public event in Pará state, urging the company to ensure dam safety. Image courtesy of Ricardo Stuckert/Presidência da República.

Copper rush pushes Vale to ramp up mining near Amazonian protected areas

André Schröder 14 Oct 2025
Rainbow over Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. Photo credit: Rhett Ayers Butler.

Just as Raja Ampat fetches UNESCO Biosphere Reserve title, nickel mining looms

Hans Nicholas Jong 2 Oct 2025
Heavy machinery operates at the nickel mining site of PT Kawei Sejahtera Mining on Kawe Island, Raja Ampat.

Religion at a crossroads in Indonesia as Islamic groups bid to operate large-scale mines

Ramadani Saputra 25 Sep 2025
A member of the Sámi Indigenous people tends a reindeer in Sweden.

Europe’s competition over Indigenous Sámi resources: Voices from the land (commentary)

Áslat Holmberg 22 Sep 2025
Nickel mining activity in the PT IWIP industrial area in Central Halmahera.

Norway fund drops Eramet over Indonesia mine threatening forests, Indigenous tribe

Hans Nicholas Jong 17 Sep 2025

Canada’s mining companies destroy biodiversity with impunity, Indigenous journalist reports

Mike DiGirolamo, Rachel Donald 16 Sep 2025

Indonesia reopens Raja Ampat nickel mine despite reef damage concerns

Hans Nicholas Jong 12 Sep 2025
Vilma de Callata, 45, draws water for her animals in Tusaquillas, Jujuy Province, Argentina, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Her native Kolla people have spent centuries climbing deep into the mountains of northern Argentina in search of a simple substance: Fresh drinking water. Image by Photo/Rodrigo Abd.

In Argentina, lithium exploration proceeds amid community disputes

Aimee Gabay 10 Sep 2025
Workers perform maintenance next to pools of brine slowly turning into lithium at the Albemarle lithium mine in Chile's Atacama desert. Photo by: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd.

Lithium mining leaves severe impacts in Chile, but new methods exist: Report

Aimee Gabay 10 Sep 2025

Report links world’s top banks to social & environmental harms from mining

Aimee Gabay 3 Sep 2025

A sales-pitch pivot brings deep-sea mining closer to reality

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 31 Jul 2025
Lena Estrada, Colombia's minister of environment. Image by Eduardo Santamaría.

Oil ‘does not guarantee stability’: Colombia’s environment minister on energy transition

Latoya Abulu 24 Jul 2025

Nickel boom on an Indonesian island brings toxic seas, lost incomes, report says

Hans Nicholas Jong 23 Jul 2025
The Andean cat is a rare and endangered species highly specialized to life in the high Andes. It’s estimated that around 2,000 mature individuals, living in fragmented populations, are spread very thinly over a vast alpine expanse in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.

Endangered Andean cat is imperiled by climate change and its solutions

Sean Mowbray 10 Jul 2025
Workers are visible at the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park's compound in Central Halmahera, North Maluku, Indonesia, Friday, June 7, 2024. Indonesia has been building out a vast industry for nickel. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Indonesia tests shows blood mercury rising at ground zero of world energy transition

Rabul Sawal 9 Jul 2025
Squat lobsters and soft coral in the deep sea.

U.S. federal agency clears ways for deep-sea mining — and companies are lining up

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 8 Jul 2025

Private financing for Argentina’s lithium is anything but green, critics say

Maxwell Radwin 1 Jul 2025
Sediment is clearly visible close to nickel mining operations on Kawe Island, Raja Ampat, discolouring the water in one of Indonesia’s most biodiverse marine areas. The concession covers an area of 5,922 hectares and is located within the mega-biodiversity region of Raja Ampat, West Papua. Image courtesy of Greenpeace.

No respite for Indonesia’s Raja Ampat as nickel companies sue to revive mines

Hans Nicholas Jong 13 Jun 2025
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the High-Level inaugural dinner of the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC).

‘Madness’: World leaders call for deep-sea mining moratorium at UN ocean summit

Elizabeth Claire Alberts 11 Jun 2025
A screenshot of Carlos Zorrilla in 2023, explaining history of mining exploration in Ecuador. Footage by Romi Castagnino for Mongabay.

‘Mining companies will lie to your face’: Carlos Zorrilla on 30 years of fighting for Intag Valley

Mike DiGirolamo 10 Jun 2025

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