🌱 Why is water a concern when mining?
Large amounts of water are needed for mining and mineral processing. Yet, a good half of all copper and lithium production sites worldwide are in areas facing “high water stress”.[i] The adverse impacts of lithium extraction have — for example — “been documented in studies from South America, where brine pumping has caused groundwater levels to drop and disrupt sensitive wetland ecosystems and the species dependent upon them”.[ii]
🌱 What discards are there from mining?
The discharges from mines originate both from metal pollutants leaching into water through the act of mining and from pollution caused by processing metals. Materials left behind after mining “such as cyanide, mercury or arsenic” can be causes of environmental damage. This is especially the case in “many developing countries where illegal small-scale operations […] occur”.[iii] Through direct discharge or runoff that flows into other bodies of water after rainfall, acids and toxic metals from mining can harm aquatic life.[iv]
🌱 Have mines caused water and land contamination?
Past examples of mines that have caused water and land contamination include a lithium mine in Jadar, Serbia, an open-cast copper mine in Galicia, Spain, as well as several nickel mines (operated to extract materials for electric vehicles) in the Philippines.[v] Moreover, lithium extraction in the so-called “lithium triangle” — where Chile, Argentina and Bolivia meet — has contaminated the waters used by local inhabitants. The activities have also “consumed 65 percent of the region’s water supply”.[vi]
This post has been adapted from a newsletter written by Krisna Baghouzian and Christine Nikander. The newsletter titled “How does critical raw material mining impact river biodiversity?” was originally published in “The E-Waste Newsletter”.
[i] Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, “You can’t eat lithium”: Community consent and access to information in transition mineral mining exploration. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/tmt-2021/you-cant-eat-lithium-community-consent-and-access-to-information-in-transition-mineral-mining-exploration-in-europe-and-north-america (21.08.2024); Iris Crawford and Scott Odell, Will mining the resources needed for clean energy cause problems for the environment? https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/will-mining-resources-needed-clean-energy-cause-problems-environment (21.08.2024); Lèbre et al., The social and environmental complexities of extracting energy transition metals. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18661-9 (21.08.2024); Thea Riofrancos, Shifting Mining From the Global South Misses the Point of Climate Justice. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/07/renewable-energy-transition-critical-minerals-mining-onshoring-lithium-evs-climate-justice (21.08.2024); International Energy Agency, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions (21.08.2024); International Energy Agency, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions. https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/ffd2a83b-8c30-4e9d-980a-52b6d9a86fdc/TheRoleofCriticalMineralsinCleanEnergyTransitions.pdf (21.08.2024); Pascal Laffont, Critical minerals for clean energy transitions. https://unctad.org/system/files/non-official-document/GCF21_s4_Laffont_1.pdf (21.08.2024); Samuel Block, Mining Energy-Transition Metals: National Aims, Local Conflicts. https://www.msci.com/www/blog-posts/mining-energy-transition-metals/02531033947 (21.08.2024).
[ii] Parker et al., Potential impacts of proposed lithium extraction on biodiversity and conservation in the contiguous United States. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723072674 (27.02.2025).
[iii] Sammy Witchall, The Environmental Problems Caused by Mining. https://earth.org/environmental-problems-caused-by-mining (27.02.2025).
[iv] Agrani Paudel, Water Pollution: Sources, Pollutants, Types, Effects, Prevention. https://microbenotes.com/water-pollution/ (20.02.2025). See also: https://www.palsapulk.com/post/how-can-businesses-protect-rivers-and-their-biodiversity (27.02.2025).
[v] Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, “You can’t eat lithium”: Community consent and access to information in transition mineral mining exploration. https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/from-us/briefings/tmt-2021/you-cant-eat-lithium-community-consent-and-access-to-information-in-transition-mineral-mining-exploration-in-europe-and-north-america (21.08.2024); Iris Crawford and Scott Odell, Will mining the resources needed for clean energy cause problems for the environment? https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/will-mining-resources-needed-clean-energy-cause-problems-environment (21.08.2024); Lèbre et al., The social and environmental complexities of extracting energy transition metals. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18661-9 (21.08.2024); Thea Riofrancos, Shifting Mining From the Global South Misses the Point of Climate Justice. https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/07/renewable-energy-transition-critical-minerals-mining-onshoring-lithium-evs-climate-justice (21.08.2024); International Energy Agency, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions. https://www.iea.org/reports/the-role-of-critical-minerals-in-clean-energy-transitions (21.08.2024); International Energy Agency, The Role of Critical Minerals in Clean Energy Transitions. https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/ffd2a83b-8c30-4e9d-980a-52b6d9a86fdc/TheRoleofCriticalMineralsinCleanEnergyTransitions.pdf (21.08.2024); Pascal Laffont, Critical minerals for clean energy transitions. https://unctad.org/system/files/non-official-document/GCF21_s4_Laffont_1.pdf (21.08.2024); Samuel Block, Mining Energy-Transition Metals: National Aims, Local Conflicts. https://www.msci.com/www/blog-posts/mining-energy-transition-metals/02531033947 (21.08.2024); Amnesty International, Philippines: Nickel mining projects approved despite inadequate consultation and serious risks to communities’ health and environment. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/philippines-nickel-mining-projects-approved-despite-inadequate-consultation-and-serious-risks-to-communities-health-and-environment/ (27.02.2025).
[vi] Samar Ahmad, The Lithium Triangle: Where Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia Meet. https://hir.harvard.edu/lithium-triangle/ (27.02.2025).