Small-scale gold mining operations in developing countries are major sources of toxic mercury pollution, using techniques that haven’t changed much since the California Gold Rush 150 years ago.
The threat posed by COVID-19 on mines is considerable. The main reasons are cramped working conditions underground, transportation in packed cages, and a high incidence of other respiratory diseases.
A sand mine in Nepal. Growing urbanization and its need for concrete is fuelling a global sand crisis.
(Michael Hoffmann)
Australia is a member of the 1979 Moon Treaty, which sets rules for resource extraction from outer space. Now that the Trump administration is eyeing moon mining, will Australian companies join in?
The eastern tributary in the Woronora drinking water catchment
Ian Wright
Empatheatre’s latest production is more than a play about three characters who live near the sea. It’s a model for collective consultation on how to save the ocean.
Mining is one of the industries that’s helped by mathematical modelling: models can predict ceiling collapses and keep miners safe.
Sunshine Seeds/Shutterstock/For editorial use only
Mathematical modelling is capable of saving lives, assisting in policy and decision-making, and optimising economic growth.
The January 2019 collapse of a dam in Brumadinho, Brazil, sent mining tailings and mud over the landscape for miles, destroying this bridge and killing 300 people.
Andre Penner/AP
Dams built to hold enormous quantities of toxic mining waste have a long history of spills. Decisions in the Pacific Northwest threaten three free-flowing rivers there.
Eabametoong First Nation (Fort Hope), seen here in 2012, is one of the communities located near the proposed Ring of Fire development.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Ontario’s approach to assessing the environmental impacts of mining in the Ring of Fire region couldn’t address concerns about the cumulative consequences of development.
There are 60,000 abandoned mines in Australia. How do we restore them so that animals return? A researcher’s epic fieldwork project in WA’s Mid West could help provide the answers.
Obuasi in the Ashanti region of Ghana has a long history with mining companies.
Wikimedia Commons
The law missed the opportunity to address misuse of mineral royalties and increase transparency as well as accountability in mineral royalty management.
The Rainbow Mountains in Zhangye Danxia National Geopark, China.
Shutterstock/Thongchai.s
New research reveals remarkable evidence of a copper-mining bonanza in Wales that was so productive the metal reached France, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.