Coming-out

Le 18 février 2025, dans le nord de la Zambie, la rupture partielle d’un barrage de résidus miniers a libéré au moins 50 millions de litres de déchets toxiques dans les rivières alentour. Un an plus tard, les habitant·es poursuivent en justice l'entreprise chinoise Sino-Metals, propriétaire de la mine, et luttent toujours pour obtenir des dédommagements.

Today, we are close to the critical moment when conventional economic growth becomes impossible on a finite planet, constrained by two parallel factors: resource depletion and pollution. Tthe depletion of fossil fuels and other mineral commodities is placing heavy constraints on both industrial and agricultural production. We are not running out of anything yet, but the cost of extraction is increasing, just as the damage that extraction causes to the ecosystem. On the other side, pollution is appearing in more than one form. Chemical pollution is growing in terms of heavy metals, endocrine-disruptors, and other poisoning substances, while climate change can be seen as another form of pollution generated by the excess of CO2 in the atmosphere.

We propose a new paradigm, as toxicology currently lacks the proper perspective. From the 1950s to the 1970s, at least one-third of all toxicological testing in the United States, including for chemicals and drugs, was misleading scientists, and this worldwide issue persists today. Moreover, petroleum-based waste and heavy metals have been discovered in pesticide and plasticizer formulations. These contaminations have now reached all forms of life. Widespread exposure to chemical mixtures promotes health and environmental risks. We discovered that pesticides have never undergone long-term testing on mammals in their full commercial formulations by regulatory authorities or the pesticide industry; instead, only their declared active ingredients have been assessed, contrary to environmental law recommendations. The ingredients of these formulations are not fully disclosed, yet the formulations are in general at least 1000 times more toxic at low environmentally relevant doses than the active ingredients alone u

Après l’accord de paix entre la RDC et le Rwanda parrainé par Donald Trump, la Maison Blanche tente d’imposer des entreprises américaines dans le secteur minier congolais, dominé par la Chine. Celle des deux milliardaires, Kobold Metals, est en première ligne.

La compagnie fait miroiter aux investisseurs les profits tirés des minerais abrités au fond de l’océan et tente de forcer le passage pour obtenir un permis d’exploiter, malgré les risques pour l’environnement. Mais la faisabilité technique et la rentabilité de cette activité sont sujettes à caution.

Alors que l'Autorité internationale des fonds marins (AIFM) a pris du retard sur l'adoption d'un code minier, Donald Trump et le Canadien The Metals Company se sont engouffrés dans la brèche pour lancer la toute première exploitation commerciale minière en fonds marins, au détriment des impacts environnementaux.

Metals and metalloids are ubiquitous in soils, originating from bedrock and from human activities and infrastructure. These compounds can be toxic to humans and other organisms, and their soil distribution and concentrations at global scale are not well known. Hou et al. analyzed data from more than 1000 regional studies to identify areas of metal toxicity and explore drivers of these trends. They estimate that 14 to 17% of cropland exceeds agricultural thresholds for at least one toxic metal.

Au moment où de plus en plus d'États se montrent en faveur d'un moratoire sur l'exploitation minière des grands fonds marins, la société canadienne The Metals Company a annoncé vouloir s'allier aux États-Unis pour puiser du cuivre, du zinc et autres minéraux dans les profondeurs du Pacifique.

An investigation by conservationists has found evidence that deep-seabed mining of rare minerals could cause “extensive and irreversible” damage to the planet.The report, to be published on Monday by the international wildlife charity Fauna & Flora, adds to the growing controversy that surrounds proposals to sweep the ocean floor of rare minerals that include cobalt, manganese and nickel. Mining companies want to exploit these deposits – which are crucial to the alternative energy sector – because land supplies are running low, they say.

This study evaluates how Europe can fulfil its goal of “achieving resource security” and “reducing strategic dependencies” for its energy transition metals, through a demand, supply, and sustainability assessment of the Green Deal and its resource needs.