Biodiversity, or the variety of life on Earth, underpins everything we need to survive, from food and clean water to medicines and shelter. Minerals are also essential to human life, and they are found everywhere in our daily lives, from cosmetics to construction.

Mineral extraction can be a very disruptive process to natural ecosystems, damaging the soil and causing biodiversity loss. Unfortunately, geological deposits of industrial minerals are rare, thus constraining options for extraction sites.