23 May 2022
Pristine parts of northern Kachin State are under threat as demand grows for high-tech devices that rely on rare earth.
Main photo: The leaching ponds at a rare earth mining site in Kachin State, where toxic chemicals are applied to dissolve the metals. (PHOTO: Maran)
Kachin State’s Chipwi
19 May 2022
The impoverished locals – who blame mining for the loss of arable land and destruction of the rural agrarian economy – want the Twickenham mine to open or forfeit mining rights.
Sekhukhune residents have given mining giant Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) until December to reopen a mine that was
19 May 2022
This is what it looks like when unregulated, illegal mining meets governance failure – a fire in a coal mine that has been burning for weeks, leaving nearby communities choking in the fumes. Perhaps most worryingly, nobody knows the extent to which fires may be burning underground.
What do noxious
16 May 2022
The Democratic Republic of Congo is putting 16 oil exploration blocks up for auction, including nine in the peatlands of the Cuvette Centrale.
Environmentalists warn that oil exploration and infrastructure for production could release huge amounts of carbon stored in the peatland and threaten the
12 May 2022
Main photo: Representative Image
6 May 2022
Amid Mongolia’s mining boom, cultural sites such as ovoos (cairns) need special protection.
5 May 2022
Mining in the former homelands in South Africa remains highly contested. At issue is the tendency of many mining companies to trample land rights, negotiate deals with elites to avoid securing informed consent while sowing division and conflict in poor rural communities.
2 May 2022
MMG is facing the possibility of a prolonged disruption at its copper mine in Peru after failing to clear the site of all protesters in an operation that has further inflamed tensions with indigenous groups.
20 April 2022
Critics of the Indonesian government’s plan to build a new capital city in the coal-mining heartland of East Kalimantan province have long warned about the abandoned mining pits dotting the landscape.
The government has now acknowledged that these will be a problem: it says it has identified 2,415
29 March 2022
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Land Portal are launching a new blog series on the governance of land-based investments in the Global South. The series will explore practical strategies and approaches adopted by rights defenders and others to address common
28 March 2022
Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy has withdrawn an amendment to legislation that helped protect, among others, communal land rights holders from unwanted mining on their land. Was this because of Cabinet pressure from the mining ministry?