Geography
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Global mineral demand is rising faster than supply growth, driven by efforts to scale renewable energy, transport, digital, and defense infrastructure. Yet, new mine commissioning has slowed, with production growth sustained by “brownfield” mining—expanding and intensifying extraction at existing sites. Because mine expansion is considered routine industry practice, questions about the global scale and scope of brownfielding are not prominent in public discussion or scientific research, limiting our understanding of its socioecological risks. Here, we leverage global production, exploration, and capital-expenditure data from 1998 to 2024 to uncover a decade-long acceleration in brownfield mining. We identify 366 brownfield mines, with 20.5% in ecologically intact or mixed landscapes, 51.5% near biodiversity or protected areas, and 77.9% above multiple high-risk thresholds, with activity concentrated in copper, gold, and iron ore in Chile, the United States, and Australia. A greater dependency on brownfielding requires governance that accounts for cumulative impacts and intergenerational liabilities.
Publication Title
One Earth
Publication Date
2-2026
Volume
9
Issue
2
ISSN
2590-3330
DOI
10.1016/j.oneear.2025.101563
Keywords
critical minerals, cumulative impacts, energy transition, human modification, human rights due diligence, life-of-mine, mine expansion, mine waste, mineral supply chains, resource governance
Repository Citation
Kamp, Deanna; Loginova, Julia; Lechner, Alex M.; Ang, Michelle Li Ern; Kuswati, Riska A.; Saputra, Muhamad Risqi U.; Unger, Corinne; Bebbington, Anthony J.; and Owen, John R., "The rise of brownfield mining is reshaping global mineral supply and intensifying social and environmental risk" (2026). Geography. 1050.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_geography/1050
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Copyright Conditions
Kemp, D., Loginova, J., Lechner, A. M., Ang, M. L. E., Kuswati, R. A., Saputra, M. R. U., ... & Owen, J. R. (2026). The rise of brownfield mining is reshaping global mineral supply and intensifying social and environmental risk. Carbon.
