This is the story of Weda Bay – and how nature is being sacrificed for mining

Analysis has found more than 3,000 mining operations within the most naturally precious areas of the planet, a much bigger footprint than previously thought Weda Bay is just one example of a global trend that could see the mining industry expand into some of Earth’s last areas of wilderness in search of minerals and materials to feed the global economy. Analysis produced for the Guardian by a group of academic researchers found more than 3,267 mining operations within key biodiversity areas (...

By Patrick Greenfield, Ashley Kirk and Pablo Gutiérrez