Digging Into the Problem

Mining in its myriad forms is experiencing tremendous growth, against a backdrop of growing global inequality, transnational crime and geopolitical tension over future energy security. Yet this growth has also brought challenges, as corruption flourishes and enables a host of socioenvironmental and human rights harms. 

Within this context, two areas emerge where the intersection between corruption and broader harms is particularly clear: transition minerals and gold mining. While many of the forms of corruption outlined in this briefing could apply across the mining sector, we highlight cases linked to these commodities because of the acute nature of demand for these products, the vulnerability of their mining processes to corruption and crime, their links to informal mining (often involving marginalized groups) and, crucially, the harms they pose to people and to nature.

Minerals with key applications in the renewable technologies and electrification of transport needed to deliver the energy transition (“transition minerals”) are receiving significant attention from policy-makers worldwide, who are concerned for future energy security. The International Energy Agency estimates that to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, the next two decades will need to see an increase of 40 percent in rare earth elements, 60-70 percent in nickel and cobalt, and around 90 percent in lithium. However, it is important to note that these predictions are not a foregone conclusion. Shifting towards a circular economy—emphasizing mineral recycling, reuse, and efficiency improvements—can help reduce the reliance on new mining. With heightened pressure to meet growing demand, there is a real risk that corruption will increase commensurate to growth in these supply chains. The push for more mining can lead to corruption at the extraction stage, such as bribery or the manipulation of licenses, which can have far-reaching consequences in downstream industries, such as electronics, electric vehicle manufacture and other renewable energy industries.

At the same time, extremely high prices have also driven an explosive increase in gold mining. Gold bullion’s price gained 40 percent in the last year alone, reaching record highs in October 2024. The increase in gold mining has been particularly clear in the informal sector, where there are often fewer protections for workers, local communities and nature. In many cases, gold has provided an easily-laundered alternative to illicit commodities for organized crime groups or militias, with widespread consequences for the rule of law and the likelihood of conflict, violence and human rights violations. 

As mining expands to meet demand, many actors have described the real consequences of its scale. In September 2024, Global Witness identified mining as the sector most associated with the killing of environmental and land defenders. Similarly, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) has consistently found mining to be the most dangerous sector for human rights defenders, documenting 630 allegations of human rights abuses over a 13-year period associated with transition minerals alone. These harms extend to nature—WWF has shown that current mining impacts up to one third of global forest ecosystems.

A key enabler of the profound harm mining does to people and nature is corruption—too often seen as a victimless crime or even as the inevitable ‘cost’ of doing business. Corruption diverts resources from service provision, undermines oversight institutions, the rule of law, and the state’s ability to uphold human rights, while being flagged as key to environmental crime. Such corruption also can undermine political stability, and it may even become profitable for some to retain levels of instability. The Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) has identified over fifty cases of corruption in licensing and contracting of transition minerals projects.

These harms disproportionately impact Indigenous Peoples and local land-connected communities and lead to acute effects for women, children, and other vulnerable groups. Researchers from the University of Queensland have identified that 54 percent of energy transition minerals projects are found on or near Indigenous Peoples’ lands. Environmental justice and Indigenous Peoples’ rights are inseparable, as both are rooted in the equitable governance of natural resources. Indigenous Peoples are not only rights-holders but also stewards of nature, with their territories holding a majority of the world’s biodiversity. Upholding Indigenous Peoples’ rights is essential to addressing the harmful socioenvironmental impacts of mining.

Appreciating the risks associated with the growth in mining, in September 2024, the U.N. Secretary General launched principles to promote justice and equity in energy transition mineral supply chains, focusing on human rights, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, environmental protection, biodiversity and anticorruption measures. At the biodiversity COP16, the Colombian government launched an initiative to push for a new binding global treaty on traceability in mineral supply chains.

While such global policy developments help draw attention to these issues, their impact will depend on how effectively their recommendations are implemented at local, national and regional levels, and within company policies. A further key element of their success will be the extent to which reforms address the interconnected nature of these issues.

Policy-makers must pay greater attention to the often-overlooked role of corruption in enabling human rights abuses, violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and social and environmental harm, and take action to combat it. This briefing seeks to support this work, breaking down silos between communities of expertise in the mining sector. It highlights the many forms of harm that corruption causes across the mining process, whether large-scale or artisanal and small-scale, formal or informal, and offers recommendations for addressing these challenges. To truly tackle the harms caused by mining to people, planet and our ability to exist within planetary boundaries, policy-makers must also be bolder in questioning how much mining is necessary, balanced against the imperative to deliver an energy transition across the globe that is truly just.