Selected News Stories
Informal, small-scale, & artisanal mining
Image: Nautre/Brett Gundlock
The scientists restoring a gold-mining disaster zone in the Peruvian Amazon
Months after the military expelled thousands of illegal miners from La Pampa, researchers gained access to a sandy wasteland.
Nature, by Jeff Tollefson on 4 February 2020
Image: Semana
El pueblo uitoto acorralado por el mercurio
En el resguardo Los Monos, a orillas del río Caquetá, se ha vuelto común el nacimiento de niños con malformaciones y enfermedades antes no vistas. La dieta milenaria a base de pescado ahora contaminado, los ha hecho pensar en volverse vegetarianos.
Semana, por José Guarnizo Álvarez
Image: Sebastian Castañeda & Paula Dupraz-Dobias
Why Switzerland struggles with dirty gold: tales from Peru
Wildcat gold miners have devastated the Peruvian Amazon, leaving large swaths of it poisoned and stripped bare.
Swissinfo.ch, by Paula Dupraz-Dobias on 16 January 2020
Mongabay
Image: Mongabay/Rhett A. Butler
$750,000 prize seeks solutions to challenges from small-scale mining. Mongabay, by Rhett Butler on 8 October 2019.
Precision Conservation: High Tech to the Rescue in the Peruvian Amazon. Mongabay, by Lisa Palmer on 15 August 2019.
Mercury poisoning chief among health problems facing Peru’s uncontacted tribes. Mongabay, by Ramiro Escobar on 9 May 2019 | Translated by Sarah Engel.
Illegal gold mining destroys wetland forest in Madagascar park. Mongabay, by Rowan Moore Gerety on 19 February 2019.
Novel research method reveals small-scale gold mining’s impact on Peruvian Amazon. Mongabay, by Mike Gaworecki on 9 November 2018.
Gold mining suspected as cause of Cambodian mass poisonings. Mongabay, by Rod Harbinson on 17 August 2018.
Four regions in Peru exposed to mercury contamination. Mongabay, by Yvette Sierra Praeli on 8 May 2018 | Translated by Sarah Engel.
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Gold
‘Like a bomb going off’: why Brazil’s largest reserve is facing destruction. The Guardian, by Dom Phillips on 13 January 2020.
In Indonesia, outlaw gold miners poison themselves to survive. New York Times, by Richard C. Paddock on 30 December 2019.
La Pampa's Illegal Gold Mining. International League of Conservation Photographers, by Jason Houston on 15 November 2019.
Why mercury still poses important threats to human health. UN Environment Programme on 12 November 2019.
Gold mining critically impairs water quality in rivers across Peruvian biodiversity hotspot. Phys.org, by Dartmouth College on 11 November 2019.
The Hidden Cost of Gold: Birth Defects and Brain Damage. New York Times, by Richard C. Paddock on 9 November 2019.
Blood Gold in the Brazilian Rainforest. New Yorker, by Jon Lee Anderson on 4 November 2019.
Illegal Gold Mining Is Laying Waste to the Amazon. Nexus Media, by Marlene Cimons on 25 October 2019.
Difficult but rewarding work: Planting trees to aid climate. AP News, by Christina Larson on 2 October 2019.
The future of small-scale gold mining in the Philippines. Mine Magazine, by Scarlett Evans on 22 September 2019.
It’s Not Just Fires. Your Phone Is Also Destroying The Amazon. Buzzfeed, by Nicole Nguyen on 31 August 2019.
How tainted gold may have ended up in your phone. New York Times, by Nicholas Casey and Brent McDonald on 30 August 2019.
The other man-made disaster ravaging the Amazon. The Nation, by Leo Schwartz on 29 August 2019.
Illegal mining in Amazon rainforest has become an ‘epidemic’. The Guardian, by Dom Phillips on 10 December 2018.
The toxic toll of Indonesia’s gold mines. National Geographic, by Richard C. Paddock on 24 May 2016.
Gold mining in Brazil’s amazon: Artisanal miners vs. mining companies. Mining.com by Ana Komnenic on 26 December 2013.
The real price of gold. National Geographic, by Brook Larmer, 2009.
Cobalt
I saw the unbearable grief inflicted on families by cobalt mining. I pray for change. The Guardian, by Siddharth Kara on 16 December 2019.
Electric vehicle adoption driving demand for new ethical cobalt supplies. Investing News Network, by Melissa Pistilli on 12 December 2019.
The human cost of your smartphone. Medium, by Aimee Pearcy on 24 October 2019.
Health and safety bigger risks to artisanal miners that conflict minerals. Mining.com, by Cecilia Jamasmie on 22 October 2019.
DRC mining risks worsen as artisanal cobalt miners turn to copper. The Africa Report, by David Whitehouse on 22 August 2019.
Why smartphones are no longer driving the search for ‘blue gold’. BBC.com, by Jamie Robertson 11 August 2019.
Congo, child labour and your electric car. Financial Times, by Henry Sanderson 7 July 2019.
Demand for Congo’s cobalt is on the rise. So is the scrutiny of mining practices. Washington Post, by Sarah Katz-Lavigne 21 February 2019.
The hidden costs of cobalt mining. The Washington Post, by Lena Mucha, Todd C. Frankel and Karly Domb Sadof on 28 February 2018.
THE COBALT PIPELINE: Tracing the path from deadly hand-dug mines in Congo to consumers’ phones and laptops. The Washington Post, by Todd C. Frankel on 30 September 2016.
Conflict Minerals / 3Ts
How the mining business is helping women in Congo escape isolation. TRT World by Eleonora Vio on 4 November 2019
The way that minerals are mined affects conflict in eastern Congo. Phys.org, by Marijke Verpoorten, Nik Stoop And Peter Van Der Windt on 30 July 2019.
An ugly truth behind ‘ethical consumerism’. The WorldPost, by By Laura Kasinof on 19 April 2018.
Rare Earths
Into Africa: the US’s drive for African rare earth minerals. Mine Magazine, by JP Casey on 22 August 2019.
China Wrestles with the Toxic Aftermath of Rare Earth Mining. Yale Environment 360, by Michael Standaert on 2 July 2019.
China gets tougher on illegal mining, exporting of rare earths. Mining.com by Cecilia Jamasmie on 2 February 2016.
Colored Gemstones
How the sapphire trade is driving lemurs toward extinction. National Geographic, by Paul Tullis on 6 March 2019.
What happens after a mining rush? Photographs from Madagascar. Mongabay, by Arnaud de Grave 31 July 2017.
Header Image: Alex Dehgan, Los Amigos Research Station