From the time of Columbus and the Spanish conquistadores, the history of Latin America has been closely entwined with mining. Yet in recent decades, the industry has taken on vast new dimensions, becoming far more powerful and destructive than anything seen in earlier periods. Driven by high mineral prices, mining companies have moved into countries where hitherto they had little or no presence, and ventured into ever more remote and ecologically sensitive areas, such as high up in the Andean cordillera and deep into the Amazon rainforest. This has brought about unprecedented social and environmental changes: entire landscapes have been radically transformed, and lifestyles which have changed little in centuries have, in some cases, disappeared altogether. But as mining has expanded, so has social conflict, with frontline communities mobilizing in defence of their lands, water, livelihoods, and cultures. This resistance has occurred throughout the region and has taken on very different forms: from roadblocks to research; from sabotage to street theatre.

While some communities have paid a heavy price for their opposition, others have achieved some impressive victories. The Heart of Our Earth tells their story: how the mining industry has affected them, how they have fought back, and their visions for fairer and more sustainable futures. Written in clear, non-technical language, The Heart of Our Earth is for students, academics, activists, journalists, and anyone who has ever wondered about the true costs of the metals which increasingly power our lives.

Visit the Heart of Our Earth website for additional reading, multimedia material, and upcoming events.

''The Heart of Our Earth' tells an insightful story of resistance to mining across Latin America, skilfully weaving together interviews, case studies, and extensive research, to provide a detailed and accessible discussion of the myriad ways in which the industry is impacting communities, livelihoods, and the environment across the region.
Reflecting LAB’s long-standing commitment to human rights and social justice, ‘The Heart of Our Earth’ makes an important contribution to shedding light on patterns of inequitable, and often violent, relations between governments, local communities, and corporations, whilst also considering the possibilities for more just and sustainable futures."
Katy Jenkins, Northumbria University

'In The Heart of the Earth, Gatehouse does what he does best: highlight the voices and power of movements making change. Focused on the impacts of the Latin American “mining boom” over the past few decades, the book artfully weaves testimony with action to highlight, not only how frontline communities are struggling against predatory mining, but how these communities are winning.
Moving from Mexico to Argentina, Gatehouse explores some of the most important cases of Latin American “people power” in the Americas. We hear from frontline activists, NGOs and scholars as they interpret their struggles and their realities from their direct experience with the mining industry in its various stages.
Gatehouse’s reporting doesn’t stop with community voices and part of the book’s strength is how he successfully keeps an eye on the corporations (most of them Canadian), and governments that seek to benefit from the violence perpetuated against communities and their environments. This “new-imperialism” has its roots in neoliberal institutions and legal regimes which prioritize profit maximization at all costs. Their active implementation has enabled some of the largest and most toxic mines history has known in order to satisfy global demand for an ever expanding economy of things.
As we face impending collapse due to our ecological crisis and warming planet, Heart of the Earth contains a sombre warning about the potential for green-capitalist solutions: unfettered demand driven by private ownership and capitalist accumulation require dispossession. Despite mining corporations’ best efforts to greenwash their operations, they can’t escape their material realities. As Joan Kuyek poignantly noted, mining is a waste management industry that makes its profit on the mining of finite resources. Sustainable/Green mining isn’t just a misnomer, it's an active attempt to generate consent for further dispossession. As evidenced in Heart of the Earth, frontline communities in the Americas aren’t demanding better conditions for an industry where they have reaped no benefits and borne all costs. What they are demanding is something radically different, wherein no one, no community and no collective environment, is sacrificed in the name of capitalist accumulation.
An essential read for anyone interested in contemporary mine struggles in Latin America.'
Dr. Kirsten Francescone, Assistant Professor in International Development Studies at Trent University and former Latin America Program Coordinator at MiningWatch Canada

‘Unrelenting global demand for minerals is reaffirming Latin America’s historically defined position in the world economy as provider of natural resources. With case histories from across the region, ‘The Heart of Our Earth’ provides an up-to-date and lucid assessment of the skewed form of development that this generates. Communities affected by mining are left to challenge a system that serves to enhance local, regional and global inequalities. This they are doing, helping to shift the terms of debate around mining. The book is a parable for our times.’
Dr. John Crabtree, research associate at the Centre for Latin American Studies at Oxford University

‘Mining’s curse may not be new to Latin America, but its dirty paw marks now tread larger than ever – and are expanding by the day. The Heart of Our Earth lifts the lid on the geopolitical machinations and economic interests that lie behind the continent’s winner-takes-all obsession with destructive extractivism. Drawing on prodigious, first-hand research, this fiercely argued account unpicks the myth of ‘sustainable mining’ and brings fresh light – and hope – to the cause of anti-mining campaigners. Tom Gatehouse does not seek to paint a romantic picture of a post-extractivist world, free of mined metals and minerals. Instead, he brings a much-needed and too often overlooked perspective to the narrative of commodity-led growth that puts people – not profits – squarely at its centre. An urgent, necessary, and timely book.’
Dr. Oliver Balch, freelance author and PhD in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge

'From the Andean altiplano to the Amazon rainforest, down to the Patagonia region, Tom Gatehouse's new book describes and analyses how indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant communities, campesinos, and urban neighbours debate, fight and resist mining projects throughout Latin America. Based on numerous interviews and cases, Tom presents a portrait of social contestation against mining, respecting the region's social, political and cultural differences. If, as the Canadian educator Judith Marshall says, “a mine, is a mine is a mine,” resistance is inventive, multifaceted and varied. Tom´s book is a crucial contribution to better understanding this diversity.'
Bruno Milanez, Associate Professor at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora in Brazil, and Coordinator of the Politics, Economy, Mining, Environment and Society (PoEMAS) Research Group

'Written in an accessible narrative and solidly grounded in abundant sources and interviews, The Heart of Our Earth provides a rich panoramic view of large-scale mining extraction in Latin America and a detailed account of some of the most critical mining disputes from Central America to the Southern Cone in the recent decades.
This book is an incredibly useful resource for specialists, journalists, activists, students, and anyone interested in the region's contemporary history through the lens of mining conflicts and their long-lasting legacies.
In times of increasing violence against environmental defenders and a business-as-usual logic in mining investments, Tom Gatehouse provides a timely and inspiring assemblage of accounts of resistance, legal victories, and struggles for environmental justice and democracy across the region.'
Sebastián Rubiano-Galvis, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Studies Department, University of San Francisco, USA

'Company PR, ‘corporate social responsibility’, diversionary tactics and the oxymoronic notion of ‘sustainable mining’ are deftly exposed, but Gatehouse also indicates ways to improve matters... proper regulation of the industry plus a major paradigm shift towards re-use, recycling and sticking to ‘indispensable’ mining only.'
The New Internationalist

Tom Gatehouse
Tom Gatehouse has an MPhil in Latin American Studies from Cambridge University. A writer who has lived and worked in Argentina and Brazil.