October 01
Madagascar: Madagascar's Mining Rush Has Caused No More Deforestation Than Farming - New Study
If tens of thousands of miners turned up in the middle of a protected rainforest to mine for sapphires, you might expect that to cause lots of deforestation and harm local… Read more »
September 18
Zimbabwe: Lithium Mining in Zimbabwe - a Story of Loss for One Community
Lithium is an essential component of electric vehicle batteries, which are becoming more important as the world moves to a low-carbon energy future. Large deposits of lithium exist… Read more »
September 17
South Africa: South Africa's Move to Green Energy Was Slowed Down By Govt to Protect Coal Mining
South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy was split in two after the 2024 general elections: Electricity and Energy and Mineral and Petroleum Resources. Part of the… Read more »
September 10
Africa: Ghana Is Africa's Largest Gold Producer, but It Has an Illegal Mining Issue - 5 Essential Reads
Ghana is one of the world's gold hotspots. It is Africa's largest producer of gold and it ranks sixth globally. In 2023, 4 million ounces were produced. It is essential to Ghana's… Read more »
September 04
Congo-Kinshasa: DRC Is the World's Largest Producer of Cobalt - How Control By Local Elites Can Shape the Global Battery Industry
The mineral-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is often portrayed as a victim of exploitation by China, the US and Europe in their competition for its minerals, which are… Read more »
August 20
Africa: Australia Won't Have 'Green Steel' to Itself. Africa Is Poised to Become a Global Hub
Australia is at the forefront of efforts to turn steelmaking green. Read more »
July 10
Zimbabwe: Double Tragedy - the Zimbabwe Farmers Affected By Illegal Mining and Climate Change
Smallholder farmers in rural Gwanda, a region in Zimbabwe that borders South Africa, have been affected by a double shock - a combination of heat, droughts and floods caused by… Read more »
June 26
South Africa: Shell Didn't Consult Communities Properly About Mining the Wild Coast - but How Much Legal Protection Do South Africans Have?
South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal recently dismissed an appeal by Shell, Impact Africa and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to overturn a High Court judgment… Read more »
June 25
South Africa: Mining Needs More Regulation, According to South Africans - Survey
South Africa has large reserves of coal, gold, manganese and platinum. Read more »
May 23
South Africa: Gold Mine Pollution Is Poisoning Soweto's Water and Soil - Study
For 140 years, gold mines in Johannesburg, South Africa have been leaking wastewater contaminated with heavy metals. The acid mine drainage from Johannesburg's estimated 278… Read more »
May 22
Africa: The World Is Rushing to Africa to Mine Critical Minerals Like Lithium - How the Continent Should Deal With the Demand
Global demand for critical minerals, particularly lithium, is growing rapidly to meet clean energy and de-carbonisation objectives. Read more »
May 08
Africa: South Africa's Plan to Move Away From Coal - 8 Steps to Make It Succeed
The South African government's Just Energy Transition Implementation Plan was launched in November 2023. It is a roadmap guiding the country away from reliance on coal-fired power… Read more »
February 16
Africa: Extraction of Raw Materials Could Rise 60 Percent By 2060 - and Making Mining 'Greener' Won't Stop the Damage
The United Nations' flagship Global Resources Outlook report is the portrait of a juggernaut. Due to be published later this month by the UN's International Resource Panel, it… Read more »
January 30
Congo-Kinshasa: 'We Miners Die a Lot.' Appalling Conditions and Poverty Wages - the Lives of Cobalt Miners in the DRC
It was a cool, dusty morning in July 2021, when I first visited the Kamilombe cobalt mine in Lualaba Province in south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Situated just outside… Read more »
January 07
Senegal: Senegal's Small Scale Gold Miners Still Use Poisonous Mercury - How to Reduce the Harm
"Do not fish in these waters." "Contains high levels of mercury." Read more »
December 03, 2023
Africa: African Countries Lost Control to Foreign Mining Companies - the 3 Steps That Allowed This to Happen
Within a few years of independence, African governments asserted sovereignty over their metal and mineral resources. Prior to this, the resources were exploited by European mining… Read more »
June 08, 2023
Ghana: Ghana's Informal Mining Harms Health and the Land - but Reforms Must Work With People, Not Against Them
Artisanal small-scale mining has been practised in Ghana for over a century. In 2018, small-scale miners generated 2.1 million ounces of gold, accounting for 43.1% of total gold… Read more »
June 01, 2023
South Africa: Harry Oppenheimer Biography Shows the Mining Magnate's Hand in Economic Policies
In Harry Oppenheimer: Diamonds, Gold and Dynasty, his outstanding biography of the South African mining magnate who died in 2000, Michael Cardo shows that there is still mileage to… Read more »
May 01, 2023
Libya: Libya Lost, Then Found, 2.5 Tonnes of Uranium - a Red Flag for Nuclear Safety
Earlier this year the International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi reported that about 2.5 tonnes of uranium ore concentrate had gone missing from a site in… Read more »
March 01, 2023
Africa: Oil and Gas Companies Are Seen As Climate Villains. Truth Is, We'll Need Their Expertise to Make Green Hydrogen a Reality
Think about oil and gas companies and climate change and chances are you'll think dark thoughts. It's true Exxon Mobil had remarkably detailed knowledge of global warming in the… Read more »
January 23, 2023
Zambia: Copper Transformed Way the World Works Before - It's About to Do So Again
Copper is all around us. The metal is both ever-present and invisible in our world. Copper makes reading the words on this screen possible. And the global spread of artificial… Read more »
January 13, 2023
Congo-Kinshasa: Mining and Armed Conflict Threaten Eastern DR Congo's Biodiversity in a Complex Web
The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) conflict-affected eastern provinces are home to numerous protected areas. These areas host unique biodiversity and a range of threatened… Read more »
January 08, 2023
Zambia: Climate Change Action Could Set Off a Copper Mining Boom - How Zambia Can Make the Most of It
At last year's US Africa leaders summit in Washington the US signed an historic memorandum of understanding with Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to develop an electric… Read more »
November 22, 2022
Africa: All Signs Point to Blowing Past the 1.5 Degrees Global Warming Limit - Here's What We Can Still Do #AfricaClimateCrisis
The world could still, theoretically, meet its goal of keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius, a level many scientists consider a dangerous threshold. Realistically,… Read more »
November 01, 2022
Ghana: Ghana's Illegal Mining Continues Because the Rules and Reality Are Disconnected
Artisanal and small-scale mining - a low-tech, indigenous mining subsector - is taking on increasing economic importance in many developing countries. Over 150 million people… Read more »