Truthout
Mining
![This banner, displayed at a community meeting in the Sierra Norte, says, "The Sierra Norte of Puebla can't be sold nor rented out – Nahua and Totonaco Indigenous Peoples."](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/07/IMG_8939-400x300.jpg)
Land Defenders Shut Down a Toxic Mine. Now Its Corporate Backers Want Damages.
A Canadian firm is demanding $200 million in damages from Mexico following the cancellation of its mining concessions.
![Miners carry bags of ore in the copper-cobalt Shabara artisanal mine near the town of Kolwezi, Lualaba, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 20, 2023.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/05/GettyImages-1577416907-400x300.jpg)
US’s Electric Vehicle Boom Is Deepening the Suffering in the Congo
Black transit activists in the US are calling attention to the plunder of the Congo for cobalt mining.
![A boy and a girl step out of the Lempa River in El Salvador. The Lempa is the country’s largest river.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/05/LempaRiver_Kids4_LoveThis-400x300.jpg)
US-Backed Canadian Mine in Guatemala Threatens Water Supply for Millions
Activists vow to fight the Cerro Blanco mine, which threatens a water supply for millions in Guatemala and El Salvador.
![Supporters of the Santa Marta 5 rally in San Salvador, El Salvador, on April 10, 2024.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/04/GK0eB6MXUAAjI_W-400x300.jpg)
Salvadoran Court Slammed for Upholding Charges Against Environmental Activists
Targeted by the right-wing government, the “Santa Marta 5” helped win a 2017 ban on metals mining in El Salvador.
![Rev. Antwon Nixon poses for a portrait on March 14, 2024, in Folkston, Georgia. Nixon was born and raised in Folkston and has become an advocate for protecting the Okefenokee Swamp in recent years.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/03/GettyImages-2082105665-400x300.jpg)
Georgia Swamp Defenders Are Resisting Mining in Endangered Okefenokee Wetlands
Locals are fighting a proposed titanium mine threatening the swamp's endangered species and carbon-capturing processes.
![Posters with slogans against the construction of the lithium mine are seen in the center of Covas do Barroso on September 19, 2023, Boticas, Portugal.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/02/GettyImages-1676980899-400x300.jpg)
“Green Mining” Won’t Prevent Ecological Damage by Global Rush for Raw Materials
The unsustainable global use of materials and energy must be radically reduced, and in an egalitarian manner.
![A proposed road for mining operations in Alaska by Ambler Metals could have devastating impact on the Koyukuk River.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/01/2024_0126-koyukuk-river-400x300.jpg)
Proposed Road for Mining Project Could Have Devastating Impact on Alaska Habitat
Native Alaskans and environmental groups fear damage to the habitat and interruption of wildlife migration if approved.
![Protesters march in the Chiriquí mountain town of Boquete in Panama.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/01/ProtesterInMarch_BoqueteChiriqui-400x300.jpg)
Panama Hits Activists With Terrorism Charges Over Successful Anti-Mining Protests
Activists in Panama defeated a mining project. Now the state is criminalizing them.
![Activists rally outside the El Salvadorian embassy in Washington D.C. on January 11, one year after five Water Defenders who championed El Salvador's anti-mining law were arrested on charges dating back to the country's brutal civil war.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/01/2024_0111-water-defenders-400x300.jpg)
Champions of El Salvador’s Historic Mining Ban Face Legal Persecution
An international coalition is demanding dubious charges against Water Defenders known as the “Santa Marta 5” be dropped.
![An illustration of a woman wearing the colors and pattern of the Congolese flag with a baby tied to her back. The woman's hands are severed, and floating between them and the arms that they were once attached to is a hunk of coltan, to which the baby's hand is also tied with a red string. Behind this scene are a backdrop of electronic devices that use the rare earth minerals presently being mined in the Congo, and behind the woman's head is both the three-bladed head of a wind turbine as well as a sunburst of light.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/11/2023_1114-kongo-genocide2-e1700238859959-400x300.jpg)
Humanitarian Crisis in Congo Is the Sinister Underbelly of “Green Tech”
The “green tech” industry is reproducing the same colonial and extractive patterns that got us to the climate crisis.