‘We are the guinea pigs’: Arizona mining project sparks concerns for air and water
… [Denise] Moreno Ramírez wasn’t surprised when she heard an Australian mining company, South32, planned to open a manganese, zinc, lead and silver operation in the same area where her family had worked. … The grasslands, woodlands, swamps and prairies of south-east Arizona’s Sky Islands are home to more than 100 species of large mammals: the greatest number north of Mexico. Residents from the borderlands area have long dealt with the health impacts of pollution linked with earlier industrial activity, including mining – from lupus to cancer. And in spite of it all, they have managed to preserve a patch of one of the most biodiverse, and imperiled, ecosystems in the world. … The lithium boom has received the bulk of attention amid calls to electrify everything – but another mineral, manganese, has been earmarked by the US as a critical element to ramp up the production of electric vehicle batteries.