The challenge 

Mines that are not adequately managed can leave a host of negative legacy impacts for local communities. 

The solution 

The Bio+Mine project worked with a local community in the Philippines to implement transformative sustainable strategies.  

The impact 

Safe and ecologically sustainable legacy mines that return usable land to current and future generations. A new model for nature-positive mine legacy. 

 

Mines deliver essential resources but can leave negative legacies. An international collaboration, the Bio+Mine project worked with the local community to devise sustainable interventions at the Sto. Niño mine in the Philippines.  

Mining is necessary not only to extract metals that aid development but also to further the energy transition that will limit climate change. However, mines also come with a huge ecological and social price tag, with ecosystems and local communities bearing the brunt of their legacies.  

Abandoned mines with potential hazards 

Biodiversity positive mining for the net zero challenge (Bio+Mine) is an international team of scientists from research institutions, including Imperial College London and the Natural History Museum. Working with partners in the Philippines, the team aimed to alleviate the negative impacts of the St. Niño mine in Benguet province. A former gold-copper mine, Sto. Niño was closed in 1982, but the abandoned open pit and waste dumps remain in an area that is farmed by local indigenous people. 

Creating sustainable ecosystems 

The Imperial team was led by Dr Pablo Brito Parada, Reader in Sustainable Minerals Processing in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering.The work involved the collection of social, ecological and geographical data that will inform a reconstruction of the mine site. Originally a site-specific project, it is hoped that the learnings from research carried out by Bio+Mine at Sto. Niño will eventually provide a model that can be applied to other legacy – and active – mines around the world.  

Local involvement 

The team was acutely aware of the historical exclusion of local communities from conversations around strategies for legacy mines. Long-term, sustainable outcomes can only be successful through community engagement and the local community was actively involved in all Bio+Mine activities. The rehabilitation and eventual regeneration of the site will release usable farmland back to the community and transform a negative legacy into a positive outcome for future generations.