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Biodiversity conservation threatened by global mining wastes

Nature Sustainability volume 7, pages 23–30 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Mine tailings—the residue remaining after mineral processing—represent a serious risk to the natural environment, and the failure of tailing storage facilities has caused some of the most serious environmental disasters in history. However, the potential biodiversity impacts globally due to tailings are mostly unknown. Here we assess the spatial coincidence between 1,721 disclosed tailings storage facilities and currently protected areas (PAs) and other conservation priorities (Key Biodiversity Areas and remaining intact ecosystems). Nine percent of storage facilities are located within PAs, half of which were established after the PA was designated. Another 20% of storage facilities are within 5 km of a PA, indicating even larger risks posed by upstream facility failures. Despite international commitments to mitigating biodiversity loss, tailings storage facilities continue to be established within PAs, with an upward trend in the proportion established within already-existing PAs. Given our findings, it is unsurprising that biodiversity factors are rarely included when assessing and categorizing the risks posed by new and existing tailings storage facilities. Greater transparency and a holistic consequence-based approach, supported by data, monitoring and new technologies are needed to drive reform at local, national and regional levels.

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Fig. 1: Spatial coincidence between TSFs and PAs, KBAs or REs.
Fig. 2: Temporal trends in TSFs established in already-existing PAs.
Fig. 3: Temporal distribution of TSFs within PAs relative to the year the corresponding PA was designated.
Fig. 4: Distribution of TSF categories across three distance parameters.

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Data availability

Spatial data and the information disclosed from the extraction companies on TSFs are available from ref. 2. Spatial data on Protected Areas and Conservation Priorities are available from refs. 17,21,22.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge B. Williams for feedback on previous versions of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of the Environment, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Bora Aska & Laura J. Sonter

  2. Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Bora Aska, Daniel M. Franks & Laura J. Sonter

  3. W.H. Bryan Mining and Geology Research Centre, Sustainable Minerals Institute Brisbane, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Martin Stringer

  4. Sustainable Gas Institute, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

    Martin Stringer

  5. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Laura J. Sonter

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Contributions

B.A., L.J.S., D.M.F. and M.S. designed the study and conceptualized the paper; B.A. and L.J.S. performed the analysis; B.A., M.S, D.M.F. and L.J.S. interpreted the data; B.A., L.J.S. and D.M.F. wrote and edited the paper.

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Correspondence to Bora Aska.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Hedley Grantham, Erica Schoenberger, and the other, anonymous, reviewer for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1 and 2, Tables 1–5 and Information.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Data

Supplementary Data 1: TSF database; Supplementary data 2: Standardized consequence classification scheme; Supplementary Data 3: TSF distance to PAs, KBAs and REs; and Supplementary Data 4: Information summary of the TSFs within PAs.

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Aska, B., Franks, D.M., Stringer, M. et al. Biodiversity conservation threatened by global mining wastes. Nat Sustain 7, 23–30 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01251-0

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