Mining

Deep-sea ecosystems under threat from an emerging ocean industry.

A team of Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) academics is marking the international day of action for rivers by hanging out the dirty laundry of a very dirty company.

What causes tailings dam - an earth-fill embankment dam used to store byproducts of mining operations - disasters and are there industry solutions?

China is investing in the massive Mirador mining project in Ecuador - at great risk to human life and the natural environment.

The Blue-throated Hillstar can only be found on a remote series of mountaintops in southern Ecuador but mining corporations have gained the rights to mine its habitat to extract metals.

The UK Government and industry players are looking to revitalise domestic mining, placing communities and ecosystems under threat.

Ancient Asian art gave jade gemstones a cult status. But today, nothing in the extraction of jade is even remotely morally correct or justifiable.

Indigenous communities fear water essential to life is becoming contaminated by the nearby ilmenite mine.

Local referenda swept Colombia after one village succeeded in using them to stop a massive mine. Until the Colombian constitutional court took their power away.

Police forces are currently evicting hundreds of forest protectors from the Hambacher Forest occupation in the German Rhineland in preparation for lignite coal mining. It is one of the largest policing operations in the history of the German state. ANDREA BROCK reports

Rio Tinto's QMM ilmenite mine in Madagascar has breached a legal buffer zone, exposing local people to “unacceptably high” environmental risks, a new study by the Andrew Lees Trust has found. YVONNE ORENGO and STEVEN EMERMAN report

Mining is booming in Northern Ireland. Five companies currently hold 10 mineral prospecting licences for different location across the country. EMILY MACINTOSH reports

Australian mining companies have a poor track record operating in Africa. Australian uranium company Paladin Energy has now put two of its mines into 'care-and-maintenance' and bankruptcy looms. But who cleans up the company's mess in Namibia and Malawi, asks JIM GREEN

The small town of Piedras became the first community in Colombia to hold a public referendum on the fate of a mining project - and later banned what would have been the largest gold mine in the world. Now they are coming to London to share their experiences. BENJAMIN HITCHCOCK AUCIELLO reports

The first country in the world write the 'rights of nature' or 'Pachamama' into its constitution is now being decimated by mining companies, argues JOHN SEED of The Rainforest Information Centre. The people of Ecuador, their government and the international community need to work together to preserve the country's unique ecosystems