A middle-aged African miner stands in a muddy open-pit mine, highlighting the environmental and social costs of mining for critical minerals.

Beneath the Surface: How Zambia’s Mining Disaster Exposes the Human Cost of the Energy Transition

On a quiet morning last month, disaster struck in Zambia’s Copperbelt. A tailings dam at a Chinese-owned copper mine burst, releasing toxic sludge into the Kafue River. Communities downstream woke…