Mining a threat to over 12,000 species globally

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-07-31 01:00

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Australian and UK scientists have worked out that mining is a threat to over 12,000 species across the globe, which includes close to 6,000 that are already listed as 'threatened'. The researchers overlaid the space where mining occurs across the globe and noted that 28% of the ranges of threatened species overlap with areas that are being mined. Further to this, the team say over 100 species have at least 75% of their range overlapping these areas, despite mining not being recognised as a threat by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The team also found that future planned mining sites could expose over 3,000 threatened species to the risks involved around mining sites, 83% of which do not have a mining-related threat designation from the IUCN.

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Journal/
conference: Cell Reports Sustainability

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Charles Sturt University, The University of Melbourne, Macquarie University

Funder: E.I.F.W. was funded by a Gulbali Institute research fellowship. M.A.C., D.W., C.M., G.D.L., and B.C.W.W. were funded by Gulbali Institute PhD scholarships. C.J.J. was funded by a Macquarie University Research Fellowship.

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