This is the story of Weda Bay and how nature is being sacrificed for mining

"We have a huge gap on the global assessments of the footprint of mining. It is much bigger than we think. Most of what is published about mines is for businesses and attracting investors. There's not much about their impacts. It has somehow escaped the eye of the international community."

"With growing demand for commodities to fuel the green energy transition, the mining sector's footprint continues to grow. We see an expansion of mines in biodiverse areas, particularly with materials like nickel in Indonesia. You have seen expansion into pristine forests over the past few years. The same in the Amazon in Brazil and Peru—gold mining is big there."

"Once a mine has opened, habitat is often lost for ever. Many use huge amounts of water from the surrounding area, depleting rivers, aquifers and lakes. Mining waste is often poorly stored and has resulted in significant pollution events from acid, heavy metals and waste rock."

Mining operations are increasingly expanding into Earth's last wilderness areas, with research identifying over 3,267 mining operations within key biodiversity areas representing nearly 5% of global mining activity. China, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico lead in surface mining area within these ecologically critical regions. Satellite imagery now enables researchers to track mining activities previously difficult to quantify, revealing a larger environmental footprint than commonly recognized. Growing demand for commodities supporting green energy transition, particularly nickel in Indonesia, is accelerating expansion into pristine forests and the Amazon. Mining causes permanent habitat loss, depletes water resources from rivers and aquifers, and generates pollution from acid, heavy metals, and waste rock, with environmental impacts often poorly documented.

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