Since 2016, around seven million hectares of land in Ecuador has been sold by the government, under zero public scrutiny, to international mining companies keen to take advantage of the country’s promise of untapped reserves of copper and other base metals.
Concerns have been raised by corporate watchdogs about the lack of regulation for Australian companies operating in Africa including the Central African Copper Belt
A large ephemeral salt lake in central South Australia, of significance to the local Aboriginal groups, is under threat from mining.
The project was permitted without proper consultation or consent from the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe and many other tribes who have ties to Thacker Pass.
Located in Tarapacá region and crossed by the Bolivian border, Coipasa Salt Flat is under dispute since exploration works carried by the Canadian Lithium Chile were rejected by local Aymara communities because of the potential damage on wetlands that sustain both wildlife and cattle (alpacas).
The Chilean government has approved in the middle of the pandemic lithium projects without proper environmental assessment nor FPIC to the Indigeous colla communities affected by these activities.