Patterns of infringement, risk, and impact driven by coal mining permits in Indonesia.

Coal mining is known for its contributions to climate change, but its impacts on the environment and human lives near mine sites are less widely recognised. This study integrates remote sensing, GIS, stakeholder interviews and extensive review of provincial data and documents to identify patterns of infringement, risk and impact driven by coal mining expansion across East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Specifically, we map and analyse patterns of mining concessions, land clearing, water cover, human settlement, and safety risks, and link them with mining governance and regulatory infractions related to coal mining permits. We show that excessive, improper permit granting and insufficient monitoring and oversight have led to deforestation, widespread overlaps of concessions with settlements, extensive boundary and regulatory violations, lacking reclamation, and numerous deaths. As the world's largest thermal coal exporter, Indonesia's elevated coal infringements, risks, and impacts translate to supply chain, sustainability, and human rights concerns for global coal markets.

Looking Down Under for a Circular Economy of Indium.

Indium is a specialty metal crucial for modern technology, yet it is potentially critical due to its byproduct status in mining. Measures to reduce its criticality typically focus on improving its recycling efficiency at end-of-life. This study quantifies primary and secondary indium resources ("stocks") for Australia through a dynamic material-flow analysis. It is based on detailed assessments of indium mineral resources hosted in lead-zinc and copper deposits, respective mining activities from 1844 to 2013, and the trade of indium-containing products from 1988 to 2015. The results show that Australia's indium stocks are substantial, estimated at 46.2 kt in mineral resources and an additional 14.7 kt in mine wastes. Australian mineral resources alone could meet global demand (∼0.8 kt/year) for more than five decades. Discarded material from post-consumer products, instead, is negligible (43 t). This suggests that the resilience of Australia's indium supply can best be increased through efficiency gains in mining (such as introducing domestic indium refining capacity) rather than at the end of the product life. These findings likely also apply to other specialty metals, such as gallium or germanium, and other resource-dominated countries. Finally, the results illustrate that national circular economy strategies can differ substantially.