Mapping Global Resource-Driven Nature Loss in the Mining Sector

Global mineral extraction is expected to surge due to the growing demand for clean energy transition. While mining is critical to modern society, its environmental impacts—often documented at local or regional scales—remain underexplored at the commodity level. Here, we introduce a novel approach integrating remote sensing, machine learning, and cloud computing to classify approximately 40,000 mining sites by commodity. Using this newly detailed dataset, we quantify the nature loss associated with 20 extracted commodities, focusing on deforestation and habitat destruction. From 2001 to 2022, mining activities worldwide resulted in the removal of 14,619 km² of forest cover, with 67.28% occurring in tropical and subtropical regions. Notably, over half of this deforestation was attributed to the extraction of coal, gold, iron, bauxite, and nickel-cobalt, primarily in countries intersecting the Amazon and Southeast Asian rainforests. Our analysis also reveals that deforestation-to-mining area ratios and biodiversity risks vary by mining location, and conservation threats do not always scale with deforestation rates. By providing commodity-specific maps of mining-induced nature loss, our work equips companies and organisations with actionable insights to identify risks within their supply chains and implement targeted mitigation strategies.