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Pitfall: The Race to Mine the World’s Most Vulnerable Places
A harrowing journey through the past, present, and future of mining, this expertly-researched account ends on a vision for how industry can better serve the needs of humanity. A race is on to exploit the last bonanzas of gold, silver, and industrial metals left on Earth. These metals are not only essential for all material comfort and need, but for the transition to clean in the coming decades, billions of tons of copper, nickel, silver, and other metals will be required to build electric vehicles, solar and wind installations, and green infrastructure. We need more metals than ever before, yet the qualities and quantities are diminishing, making the extraction process more polluting to land, air and water. And most of these metals will be mined from the global south, where social conflict will only grow, led by Indigenous peoples demanding a greater say in how their wealth is used. The stakes couldn't be How can we mine the metals we need without replicating the environmental and human rights abuses of the past? Pitfall is the compelling story of the quest to exploit the metals our civilization needs—and at what cost to local people and their environments. Beginning with the first waves of big, foreign-owned mines in the 1960s, investigative journalist Christopher Pollon shows how transnational companies rose to dominate copper, precious metals, and lithium in Latin America, made inroads into war-torn countries in Africa, and exploited nickel, industrial metals, and rare earth metals across Asia and Oceania. If we cannot change our course, Pollon argues, we are condemned to mine deeper and darker places, including the depths of the ocean, sacrifice zones, and near-earth asteroids. This disturbing vision of the future also includes robotic mines without workers and social license—unless we act now.
Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.
Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.
- GenresNonfictionEnvironment
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2023
8 people are currently reading
182 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Pollon
4 books1 followerChristopher Pollon is an award-winning Canadian freelance journalist and author focused on environment, business and the politics of natural resources. He is the author of two books, including “PITFALL: THE RACE TO MINE THE WORLD’S MOST VULNERABLE PLACES” (2023) – and “THE PEACE IN PERIL: THE REAL COST OF THE SITE C DAM” (2017).
Covering a global beat of oceans, energy and mining, his writing has been published by National Geographic, VICE, The Walrus, The Globe and Mail and many more. He is a contributing editor at The Tyee, which is based in his home town of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Covering a global beat of oceans, energy and mining, his writing has been published by National Geographic, VICE, The Walrus, The Globe and Mail and many more. He is a contributing editor at The Tyee, which is based in his home town of Vancouver, British Columbia.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 12, 2025
Excellent overview of the environmental impacts of mining! Very readable and balanced take.
December 13, 2024
Excellent. Well researched and presented.
But it is depressing to see how yet another example of harvesting natural resources, in this case the mining of metals, has had such a negative impact on the environment and the people who work at or live near mines. And why? Firstly, foreign companies making lots of money, without giving a fair share back to the communities, or paying the true cost of the environmental mess they made.
And secondly, us as consumers wanting our electronics etc, and now our electric vehicles. Will we adjust our demand? Probably not until some global catastrophe makes us.
But it is depressing to see how yet another example of harvesting natural resources, in this case the mining of metals, has had such a negative impact on the environment and the people who work at or live near mines. And why? Firstly, foreign companies making lots of money, without giving a fair share back to the communities, or paying the true cost of the environmental mess they made.
And secondly, us as consumers wanting our electronics etc, and now our electric vehicles. Will we adjust our demand? Probably not until some global catastrophe makes us.
January 11, 2024
Pitfall, by Chistopher Pollon, is a modern look at how mining impacts our world. It is split into three sections, which focus on how mining in the past relates to mining in the present, and the potential for mining in the future. The first story in the book focuses on a mine in New Guinea, and how this is an example of a phenomenon known as “the resource curse,” an idea that a place rich in natural resources doesn’t benefit from its wealth, and can actually suffer because of other countries exploiting those resources. This chapter follows how even just one mine operating without proper storage for tailings dumped at least “one billion tons of mine waste” in various rivers around New Guinea, “into the homeland of at least thirty thousand indigenous subsistence farmers.” This is followed by Pollon discussing mines in Guatemala, how they are related to larger societal issues, and how the mining superpowers of the world aren’t necessarily who we would expect them to be. These in-depth explorations into specific countries and mines continue throughout the book, slowly moving from the 1960s to the present, and eventually the future.
I learned so much from this book, but two things really stand out. One of the reasons I wanted to read this book is because I felt ignorant about mining, and reading this showed me how ignorant I really was. This book is written from a somewhat Canadian perspective, as Pollon is Canadian. As a Canadian like Pollon, I had no idea how dominant Canada was in the mining industry, and this opened my eyes to the effects mining has in communities, from displacement to pollution. I was also blind to the amount of waste created by mining. To close his novel, Pollon talks about gold, and his wedding ring, saying, “I have always loved this ring and what it represents, until the day I learned that making this tiny piece of jewelry - weighing a third of an ounce - generated at least twenty tones of mine waste.” This quote, and the entirety of the book, lead me to think about the implications of this text, and how we can change going forward. We cannot change the policies of overseas mining companies overnight. What I propose instead, on an individual level, is that we wear out our devices like old clothes, hanging on to cell phones, laptops, and jewelry, until the time comes when they truly are no longer functional.
I would describe this book as eye-opening and relevant, and would honestly recommend this book to practically every person in my life. One thing I particularly liked was how Pollon broke up what could have been long chunks of statistics with personal stories, which makes this an engaging read. It tackles such important issues that remain almost unheard of. Pollon puts it best himself, in the first sentence of his book: “This book is written for people who rarely, if ever, stopped to consider where all the metals we use come from.”
I learned so much from this book, but two things really stand out. One of the reasons I wanted to read this book is because I felt ignorant about mining, and reading this showed me how ignorant I really was. This book is written from a somewhat Canadian perspective, as Pollon is Canadian. As a Canadian like Pollon, I had no idea how dominant Canada was in the mining industry, and this opened my eyes to the effects mining has in communities, from displacement to pollution. I was also blind to the amount of waste created by mining. To close his novel, Pollon talks about gold, and his wedding ring, saying, “I have always loved this ring and what it represents, until the day I learned that making this tiny piece of jewelry - weighing a third of an ounce - generated at least twenty tones of mine waste.” This quote, and the entirety of the book, lead me to think about the implications of this text, and how we can change going forward. We cannot change the policies of overseas mining companies overnight. What I propose instead, on an individual level, is that we wear out our devices like old clothes, hanging on to cell phones, laptops, and jewelry, until the time comes when they truly are no longer functional.
I would describe this book as eye-opening and relevant, and would honestly recommend this book to practically every person in my life. One thing I particularly liked was how Pollon broke up what could have been long chunks of statistics with personal stories, which makes this an engaging read. It tackles such important issues that remain almost unheard of. Pollon puts it best himself, in the first sentence of his book: “This book is written for people who rarely, if ever, stopped to consider where all the metals we use come from.”
January 14, 2024
Pitfall is an engrossing, eye-opening examination of the past, current, and future state of mining around the world; it is an account that anyone with an interest in the energy transition should become familiar with. Christopher Pollon, an experienced mining industry reporter, succinctly lays out our current global mining challenge in the first few pages of this book:
With this challenge in mind, Pollon takes us to some of the world's largest "sacrifice zones" to examine the legacy of mining since World War II: the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, Escobal and Fenix mines in Guatemala, and Bayan Obo mine in Inner Mongolia. Pollon combines historical analysis, interviews with community members, and technical analysis to demonstrate how evolving technology, consumer demand, and politics in both the Global North and Global South combined to form these paradoxical zones: areas of incredibly high mineral wealth, surrounded by grinding poverty and human rights abuses. While Pollon pulls no punches regarding the mining industry's responsibility in creating such zones (especially the role of companies in Canada, Australia, and the United States, who often hide behind subsidiaries), he also doesn't spare the role we have played as consumers.
The next part of Pitfall examines the intersection of current mining projects with water scarcity, artisanal mining, and politics across Latin America and Africa. This is an especially strong part of the book. Pollon fairly juxtaposes our growing need for metals in a renewable energy economy, and the importance of mining to 100 million artisanal miners in the Global South. Still, Pollon's empathetic analysis demonstrates that even in our current mining supercycle, there are ways of better empowering local communities to benefit from mineral riches in their territories.
The last part of the book is perhaps its most fascinating: what will the mining of the future look like? Here, Pollon lends his access to both mining industry insiders and watchdog agencies to imagine different pathways we might choose as a society. On the one hand, there is the prospect of increasingly extreme "holes" to be dug in order to meet the needs of a consumerist-driven energy transition - large open-pit mines, deep sea mining, and even mining asteroid belts. On the other hand, Pollon relates a smaller-scale but just as imaginative vision: one in which we conceive of our own electronics as the highest-grade mining resources available, and create thousands of mini-mines around the world through cooperatives and urban recycling centres. I find this vision particularly intriguing, with echoes of self-sufficiency and decentralization in food and energy systems.
Pitfall is a brisk book that is always interesting, thought-provoking, and empathetic to both communities and the challenges faced by a challenged but necessary industry.
Over the last forty years, ore grades ... have declined on average by half for many metals. Lower grades necessitate sifting through ever-increasing volumes of rock to find the metals we need - increasing the volume of tailings waste generated for each unit of metal produced. This, in a world where the environmental legacy of industrial mining is already writ large: tens of thousands of tailings storage dams (and growing) - a significant but unknown fraction at high risk of catastrophic collapse - languish like time bombs above rivers and poor communities across the planet.
Our world now faces a conundrum; we need more metals than ever before, but at the same moment, we need to find ways to limit the number of destructive holes we dig in the ground...
With this challenge in mind, Pollon takes us to some of the world's largest "sacrifice zones" to examine the legacy of mining since World War II: the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, Escobal and Fenix mines in Guatemala, and Bayan Obo mine in Inner Mongolia. Pollon combines historical analysis, interviews with community members, and technical analysis to demonstrate how evolving technology, consumer demand, and politics in both the Global North and Global South combined to form these paradoxical zones: areas of incredibly high mineral wealth, surrounded by grinding poverty and human rights abuses. While Pollon pulls no punches regarding the mining industry's responsibility in creating such zones (especially the role of companies in Canada, Australia, and the United States, who often hide behind subsidiaries), he also doesn't spare the role we have played as consumers.
The next part of Pitfall examines the intersection of current mining projects with water scarcity, artisanal mining, and politics across Latin America and Africa. This is an especially strong part of the book. Pollon fairly juxtaposes our growing need for metals in a renewable energy economy, and the importance of mining to 100 million artisanal miners in the Global South. Still, Pollon's empathetic analysis demonstrates that even in our current mining supercycle, there are ways of better empowering local communities to benefit from mineral riches in their territories.
The last part of the book is perhaps its most fascinating: what will the mining of the future look like? Here, Pollon lends his access to both mining industry insiders and watchdog agencies to imagine different pathways we might choose as a society. On the one hand, there is the prospect of increasingly extreme "holes" to be dug in order to meet the needs of a consumerist-driven energy transition - large open-pit mines, deep sea mining, and even mining asteroid belts. On the other hand, Pollon relates a smaller-scale but just as imaginative vision: one in which we conceive of our own electronics as the highest-grade mining resources available, and create thousands of mini-mines around the world through cooperatives and urban recycling centres. I find this vision particularly intriguing, with echoes of self-sufficiency and decentralization in food and energy systems.
Pitfall is a brisk book that is always interesting, thought-provoking, and empathetic to both communities and the challenges faced by a challenged but necessary industry.
July 23, 2024
Pitfall by Christopher Pollon is a thought-provoking exploration of the challenges associated with mining, particularly with the increasing demand for rare earth minerals needed to tackle the switch to “everything electric”, chiefly EVs. Pollon delves into the potential environmental impacts associated with the expanded mining activities required to achieve a green energy future, and the consequences this will have for our planet based on past history.
Most concerning and eye-opening for me was the section on Escondida, the biggest copper mine on Earth, and the colossal amount of water it needs to operate. Whilst embracing desalination technology to obtain a reasonable percentage of the water required for processing, the number and amount of by-products pumped back into the ocean from reverse osmosis is concerning. Couple this with the sheer amount of energy required to then pump the water high into the Andes, and the notion that desalination is an environmentally friendly process becomes questionable. The cost of producing a litre of water from desalination is twice that of fresh water.
And then there’s the recent debate about just how “green” EVs are. Scroll through LinkedIn on any given day and there are usually several arguments brewing between the “green EV” proponents and their detractors who disagree. Unfortunately, the cost to produce an EVs battery – costs associated with mining and processing the various minerals to the human cost for the many millions of artisanal miners who dig the cobalt out of the ground – still far outweighs any benefit an EV gives back. It may give short-term relief to the hip pocket of the owner, but if they were to truly understand the “cost” it took to produce that EV, they may think again about the benefit they believe they’re giving the planet.
Pitfall provides a compelling look at the complex issues and trade-offs involved in meeting the demand for these critical resources while striving to minimize the negative environmental effects. Pollon's work serves as a timely and important contribution to the ongoing conversation about sustainable resource management and the need to balance economic development with environmental protection.
If we want to change - and we must - how mining impacts the environment and people, then it’s not a step-change that’s required. It’s a fundamental shift in how we think and view the future of mining. As Pollon points out, it’s not about improving what we’ve been doing for the past 150 years and just making it better. Mining needs to be turned on its head and approached radically differently.
Note - for the record, I work in mining and have done so for the past 21 years.
Most concerning and eye-opening for me was the section on Escondida, the biggest copper mine on Earth, and the colossal amount of water it needs to operate. Whilst embracing desalination technology to obtain a reasonable percentage of the water required for processing, the number and amount of by-products pumped back into the ocean from reverse osmosis is concerning. Couple this with the sheer amount of energy required to then pump the water high into the Andes, and the notion that desalination is an environmentally friendly process becomes questionable. The cost of producing a litre of water from desalination is twice that of fresh water.
And then there’s the recent debate about just how “green” EVs are. Scroll through LinkedIn on any given day and there are usually several arguments brewing between the “green EV” proponents and their detractors who disagree. Unfortunately, the cost to produce an EVs battery – costs associated with mining and processing the various minerals to the human cost for the many millions of artisanal miners who dig the cobalt out of the ground – still far outweighs any benefit an EV gives back. It may give short-term relief to the hip pocket of the owner, but if they were to truly understand the “cost” it took to produce that EV, they may think again about the benefit they believe they’re giving the planet.
Pitfall provides a compelling look at the complex issues and trade-offs involved in meeting the demand for these critical resources while striving to minimize the negative environmental effects. Pollon's work serves as a timely and important contribution to the ongoing conversation about sustainable resource management and the need to balance economic development with environmental protection.
If we want to change - and we must - how mining impacts the environment and people, then it’s not a step-change that’s required. It’s a fundamental shift in how we think and view the future of mining. As Pollon points out, it’s not about improving what we’ve been doing for the past 150 years and just making it better. Mining needs to be turned on its head and approached radically differently.
Note - for the record, I work in mining and have done so for the past 21 years.
January 16, 2025
The book Pitfall is not a book that I enjoyed reading. It was not something I looked forward to reading after getting home from school, or in the bath, or in bed at night. I had to set timers and force myself to read just to finish reading it. All in all, the book is unpleasant, but necessary regardless. The world of mining is something many people have a strange aversion to, but Pollon argues that it is a major part of life in the twenty-first century, one that will only become more prevalent in a world of changing economic, social, and environmental variables. Many of these problems modern miners face are the work of the miners of old, and this book catalogues some of the worst corners of humanity; from disasters brought forth of negligence, rampant abuses of human rights and violations of national and international laws, and the gaping environmental scars brought forth by the world’s insatiable appetite for the treasures beneath. One section that I did find fascinating was when the authour catalogued his trip inside a mine in Bolivia, gathering details about the very real dangers that the individuals in this industry struggle with. One regrettable insight I gleaned later was that the book was originally intended to be only about Western Canada, but this was expanded to a global scope. As someone living in Western Canada, I feel I could have applied the book to my own life better if it had been written this way. Whether or not you live in a country mentioned by the book, though, there is much to learn about the interconnected world of mining, from how cites are chosen, how work is done, and how workers and the land the mine rests upon are often left mangled and broken. Any person who is interested in such things could, if not enjoy, as I did not, learn from this grim handbook. While Pollon seeks a world less dependent upon mining, he is not naïve, nor a fool; among his many thesis is the assertion that mining will be needed to combat today’s great challenges, from climate change to water scarcity to medical crisises. But this is not absolute, and the urge to go digging must be tempered with caution. The book ends with a question, taken from the lips of one of Pollon’s associates: Can you imagine if I were to say “Oh yeah, there’s gold down there, you can’t touch it though. Just leave it there. Can you imagine a society like that?”. A hard question, but one any reader of this book will be better poised to answer.
December 27, 2024
A very effective and powerful look at global mining, past, present, and future. Pollon's central thesis--that we have poisoned the planet and each other over bits of metal--is made more effective because he takes a balanced approach to the topic. Instead of just discussing the ecological disaster, he also takes a trip through explaining what the metals were and what they're used for. It helps build to the central thesis that we do need to evolve mining, but we more importantly need degrowth, metal recycling, and circular economies in order to leave the metals in the ground.
Canada, more than most countries, has made its fortunes on the back of mining and then financing mines elsewhere. We have a moral duty to understand what we're doing around the world in order to have the nice life that this provides.
Canada, more than most countries, has made its fortunes on the back of mining and then financing mines elsewhere. We have a moral duty to understand what we're doing around the world in order to have the nice life that this provides.
August 6, 2025
Although I appreciated the well-researched findings of the author, it felt like every mine was 'the biggest (fill in the blanks with your favourite metals) mine in the world'. Over the course of a few hundred pages this over/under language undermines the importance of the topics discussed. However, this is certainly a timely book, and I'd recommend anyone to read it given the growing importance of mining in the world today.
September 11, 2024
The subject matter is extremely important, given that resource extraction is such a foundational part of the Canadian economy, as well as the global transition to renewable energy. Lots of really interesting threads to pull after reading Pitfall, as it covered a ton of ground... Or uncovered it 🤔
December 31, 2024
Fascinating look into the harmful effects of modern mining. I usually don’t even like non-fiction but it’s a compelling read. I also like how he explains paths forward (so often non-fiction is just yelling about how awful the world is with no alternative paths). Very very good
December 27, 2023
Excellent read
August 18, 2024
Absolutely essential read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews