Topic description and stories

Gold mine in Rondonia, Amazonian Brazil

Thousands of birds and fish threatened by mining for clean energy transition

26 Jul 2024

Our increasing demand for metals and minerals is putting over four thousand vertebrate species at risk, with the raw materials needed for clean...

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Tagebau / Open cast mine

Opinion: Worthless mining waste could suck CO₂ out of the atmosphere and reverse emissions

20 Apr 2017

Could waste material from mining be used to trap CO 2 emissions? A new £8.6 million research programme will investigate the possibilities. Simon...

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Fingerprinting rare earth elements from the air

01 Jul 2016

Vital to many modern technologies yet mined in few places, the ‘rare earth elements’ are in fact not that rare – they are just difficult to find in...

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The Star of Adam

Opinion: What science can tell us about the ‘world’s largest sapphire’

06 Jan 2016

Simon Redfern (Department of Earth Sciences) discusses how the "Star of Adam" sapphire was formed in the highlands of Sri Lanka.

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Adivasis

India’s new brand of colonialism

25 May 2011

The plight of Binayak Sen, the Indian public health expert recently bailed from prison on controversial sedition charges, is symptomatic of the...

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