New data released by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) finds that, worldwide, South America has the most abuse allegations associated with large-scale mining for transition minerals over the past 15 years. Such minerals are essential for the shift away from fossil fuels and are critical for other industries, such as tech and defense. Many of the allegations were associated with environmental harm including water pollution and deforestation.
Roughly 36% of such abuse allegations recorded between 2010 and 2025 were in South America. Many of the abuses involved local community rights violations, labor rights violations and attacks against defenders.
Of the allegations reported worldwide in 2025, 17% were related to the abuse of Indigenous People’s rights, including their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent before mining activities could take place in their territory.
The researchers analyzed the BHRRC’s Transition Minerals Tracker to identify allegations of abuse related to mining nine key transitional minerals, including bauxite, cobalt, copper and lithium. They identified 329 allegations of abuse in 2025, up from 156 in 2024.
Between 2010 and 2025, Peru had the most reported allegations (174), followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (151) and Chile (137).
