Extraction and use of minerals through mining is essential for industrial and societal development. However, the mining industry carries significant risks of long-lasting negative impacts on the environment, particularly on water resources and landscapes, as well as on local communities. Catastrophes such as the Brumadinho dam collapse in Brazil in January 2019 and in Nachterstedt, Germany, in 2009, where three people died because parts of an inhabited settlement slipped into a flooded open-cast mining area, call for action and can provide momentum for change. A transition towards mining in sustainable landscapes is necessary to ensure that the future of this industry operates with a sufficient degree of resilience and in a manner that can adequately respond to and align with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This Science Policy Report which was written by a group of 23 young scientists from Brazil, Germany, Canada, Chile and Peru outlines a new vision for mining activities and proposes several recommendations that can guide this paradigm shift towards sustainable mining landscapes.

The report by the young scientists is the result of a workshop hosted by the Leopoldina and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences last year in Belo Horizonte.