The public health impacts of mining in Australia

Our plain-English summary of The public health impacts of mining in Australia, by J. Cortes-Ramirez, R.N. Michael, L.M. Toms, et al (The Medical Journal of Australia, 2025).

The study

• Authors: J. Cortes-Ramirez, R.N. Michael, L.M. Toms, M. Haswell
• Journal: The Medical Journal of Australia
• Published: 2025;223(10):541-549
• Type of article: Systematic review
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Australia is rich in minerals of commercial interest along with oil and gas, and mining activities are carried out in almost all states and territories. The public health impacts of mining on the Australian general population need to be addressed to enable a comprehensive cost-benefit assessment of these activities balanced against their broader impacts. This systematic search and thematic review of the literature evidenced that exposure to agents released during mining operations, such as cadmium, iron, manganese, zinc, arsenic and lead, is associated with neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases in adults and children. Mining of lead is specifically associated with negative fertility effects in men and with intellectual disability and impaired immune function in children. Asbestos mining is associated with higher morbidity and mortality due to respiratory and non-respiratory cancers, and recent analyses have identified a higher risk of severe respiratory and circulatory diseases in communities in proximity to coal mining. Although unconventional gas extraction is more newly introduced in Australia, research has found a higher risk of hospitalisation by all-causes and for circulatory, respiratory and blood and immune diseases, especially in children. These findings are consistent with extensive research globally, but human studies in this field are scarce in Australia. Multisectoral approaches are required to address these impacts, including committed involvement of the mining industry, the academic sector and, especially, the different levels of government.

© 2025 The Author(s). Medical Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AMPCo Pty Ltd.

In plain English

This article was a review, not a new study. The authors searched three databases (Scopus, EMBASE and PubMed) for studies on how mining and coal seam gas production affect the general Australian population. They found 29 studies on mining and four on gas production, then discussed them alongside research from other countries. On asbestos, the authors reported that most Australian studies of communities near asbestos mining were done in Wittenoom, Western Australia. The titles of the cited Wittenoom studies refer to blue asbestos (crocidolite). Higher exposure in these populations was associated with a higher risk of multiple respiratory and non-respiratory cancers, especially in women and children. Early childhood exposure was also associated with subclinical restrictive lung function. Other reviewed studies linked higher arsenic concentration near Victorian gold mining areas with higher cancer risk. They also linked coal mining with an increased risk of hospitalisation for circulatory and respiratory diseases in the Queensland general population. A Hunter Valley coal study found differences that were not statistically significant. The authors concluded that mining is associated with higher morbidity and mortality in nearby populations. They noted that Australian research is scarce and mostly associational.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Review: a systematic database search of Australian studies, discussed using a narrative review approach
• Who was studied: Published studies on the health impacts of mining (29 studies) and gas production (4 studies) on the general population in Australia
• Exposure: Agents released by mining, including asbestos from mining at Wittenoom (cited study titles refer to crocidolite, blue asbestos), plus cadmium, iron, manganese, zinc, arsenic and lead, coal mining and unconventional gas extraction
• Main results:
  • Most Australian studies of communities near asbestos mining were done in Wittenoom, Western Australia
  • In the Wittenoom populations, higher asbestos exposure was associated with a higher risk of multiple respiratory and non-respiratory cancers, especially in women and children
  • Early asbestos exposure in childhood was associated with subclinical restrictive lung function
  • Higher arsenic concentration near Victorian gold mining areas was associated with higher risk of all cancers and of certain specific cancers in males and females
  • Research estimated an increased risk of hospitalisation for circulatory and respiratory diseases in the Queensland general population in relation to coal mining
  • In the Hunter Valley, a higher rate of respiratory diseases than in non-coal mining areas was found, but the differences were not statistically significant
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, consistent with global research, mining is associated with a higher risk of morbidity and mortality in the general population near mining activities
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Australian studies are few and mostly non-experimental associational analyses in a few mining regions
  • Apart from asbestos, health effects of other mining wastes and emissions have not been estimated using human or clinical data
  • Effects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have not been investigated in epidemiological research

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