The need to move a colony of the wild rodents at a mine in Chile is resulting in scientific studies and a deeper understanding of the species.

Scientific gold is being spun around JSE-listed mining company Gold Fields' chinchilla relocation project in the Chilean Andes, with AI tools advancing the monitoring of the critters and a recent peer-reviewed study shedding worrying light on the species' limited diet.

As a scramble for critical commodities heats up worldwide, taking extractive operations into remote regions, the project may offer a template for accommodating wildlife conservation with the urgency of mining the minerals and metals required for the green energy transition.

To wit, Gold Fields launched Operation Chinchilla in 2020 to translocate a colony of about two dozen of the highly endangered short-tailed chinchillas to make way for its Salares Norte gold mine in Chile.

The relocation has taken unexpected twists and turns, raising critical public scrutiny and at times affecting Gold Fields' share price - making it, in corporate parlance, a "material issue" for its C-suite. It was initially halted by the regulator after two of the first four captured animals died.

Soaring cost

But Gold Fields is not taking any more chances and revealed in late 2024 that its staff for the project numbered close to 80 - about three humans for each chinchilla -and the cost, though not...