The Business & Human Rights Centre (BHRC) released its Transition Minerals Tracker: Key Findings 2026 (June 2026) drawing on evidence from 1,226 publicly reported allegations linked to 299 large-scale mining operations across nine transition minerals (bauxite, cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese, nickel, iron ore, zinc and rare earth elements) between 2010 and 2025.
Human Level’s Take:
- The global race for transition minerals is accelerating. So too are the human rights risks that accompany it. As governments and businesses compete to secure critical mineral supply chains, BHRC recorded a 73% increase in allegations of abuse linked to transition mineral mining. Allegations rose across every region and at every stage of the mining value chain, highlighting the mounting human rights costs of the energy transition.
- While demand for transition minerals is global, their human rights impacts are not shared equally. BHRC documents a consistent pattern in which Indigenous Peoples, workers, women and local communities bear a disproportionate share of the risks associated with transition mineral extraction, reinforcing existing inequalities and exposing those closest to mining projects to the greatest harms.
- Of the 155 mines associated with at least one allegation in 2025, only 56% were covered by a publicly available human rights policy, a foundation of human rights due diligence. The report also highlights that a relatively small number of companies account for a large share of allegations.
- This is a business resilience issue. As allegations of abuse rise alongside protests, litigation and project suspensions, the report shows that unresolved human rights impacts are becoming a significant source of operational disruption. Resilient supply chains depend as much on trusted relationships with rightsholders as they do on access to mineral resources, challenging the assumption that expanding production alone will deliver a just energy transition.
- This places human rights due diligence back at the centre of business practice. Human rights due diligence is more than a compliance exercise; it is a strategic approach to identifying and addressing risks, embedding respect for human rights across operations, subsidiaries and joint ventures, and ensuring access to effective remedy through safe, accessible and inclusive grievance mechanisms.
- For businesses, the path forward is clear. BHRC underscores the importance of meaningful engagement with rightsholders throughout the life of a project, including respecting Indigenous Peoples' right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Moving beyond traditional corporate social responsibility approaches towards shared decision-making, equitable benefit-sharing and genuine partnership is essential to reducing conflict and supporting a just energy transition.
Some key takeaways:
- Growing human rights risks as demand for transition minerals accelerates: Published against a backdrop of intensifying geopolitical competition to secure transition mineral supply chains, the report finds that allegations of human rights abuses linked to transition mineral mining rose sharply in 2025. BHRC recorded 329 allegations during the year, up from 156 in 2024, including a 73% increase at previously tracked mining operations. The increase was global in scope: every region recorded more allegations, with South America remaining the most affected region and Africa recording the steepest year-on-year increase (122%). The report also recorded 42 attacks against human rights and environmental defenders and documents increasing social conflict around mining operations, including protests, strikes, litigation and project suspensions. Forty-four allegations, around one in seven, resulted in lawsuits or regulatory action.
- The impacts of transition mineral extraction are distributed unevenly: The human rights impacts of transition mineral extraction are borne disproportionately by certain rightsholders. Indigenous Peoples account for 17% of allegations recorded in 2025 despite representing only 6% of the global population, with repeated allegations relating to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, land rights and impacts on local environments. Workers also face growing risks. The Tracker recorded 92 allegations relating to labour rights and occupational health and safety in 2025, more than double the number recorded the previous year, including 22 reported work-related deaths. Women continue to bear distinct impacts, with 39 allegations relating to gender-specific harms, including gender-based violence. These harms are also increasingly accompanied by resistance from affected rightsholders. Together, these trends highlight the report's conclusion that unresolved human rights impacts can undermine the stability and resilience of transition mineral supply chains.
- Strengthening human rights due diligence across the mining value chain: The report concludes that rights-based mineral supply chains depend on three interconnected principles: a corporate duty of care for human rights, fair negotiations with rightsholders and shared prosperity. Yet, of the 155 mines associated with at least one allegation in 2025, only 56% were covered by a publicly available human rights policy, a foundation of human rights due diligence. The report also highlights that a relatively small number of companies account for a large share of allegations, while ongoing consolidation in the mining sector and a rise in mergers and acquisitions are likely to concentrate both influence and responsibility among major operators. In response, BHRC calls on companies to strengthen human rights and environmental due diligence, provide access to remedy through safe and inclusive grievance mechanisms, and embed these commitments across subsidiaries and joint ventures. It also places particular emphasis on engaging rightsholders before, during and after operations, respecting Indigenous Peoples' right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, and moving beyond traditional corporate social responsibility approaches toward models of shared decision-making and benefit sharing.
