Mining

ATRATO by Juan Covelli runs until 22 February 2026 at the V&A Photography Centre in South Kensington, London. Admission is free.

In the Bolivian highlands, the Indigenous community of Cala Cala is waging a battle to defend the headwaters of its river from mining. What...

For nearly four decades, residents of Arica, Chile, have lived with the toxic legacy of imported industrial waste. After repeated legal defeats and government...

Nearly 40 years ago, 20,000 tonnes of Swedish mining waste were dumped on the edge of Arica, Chile. Laced with arsenic, lead, and mercury,...

Drawing inspiration from LAB’s Environmental Defenders series, LAB contributor Leon Elliott has created an interactive tool that traces important developments in the fight for...

President Nayib Bukele has overturned El Salvador's seven-year-old ban on metal mining (the first such ban in the world) and renewed the assault on communities which campaign against mining. The five water defenders from Santa Marta, Cabañas, now face a new trial because of their opposition to gold mining.

In the second of two articles, mining engineer Laurence Morris describes how the oligarchy of the 'Big Five' mining companies operates and the negative consequences of their monopoly of power, influence and resources.

Mining engineer Laurence Morris shows how the world's 5 largest mining companies constitute an oligarchy, with serious consequences for mine workers, communities, the environment and the countries which depend on their corporate 'largesse'

Wirikuta is the most important sacred place for the Indigenous Wixárika people in the state of San Luis Potosí, Mexico. This place, which is of great importance for biodiversity and culture, is threatened by mining companies. The community has been fighting a legal battle to annul the 78 contracts threatening the site’s existence. They hope the Mexican judicial system will rule in their favour.

Communities of the Intag Valley are engaging in new tactics, using citizen science to resist mining through legal battles. A pioneering organisation, Ecoforensic, is training a growing movement of ‘paraecologists’ to gather the ecological data needed to win legal cases against mining companies – and it’s working.