Extractivism is a treasure hunt in which the strongest do not shrink from violence to monopolize the commons that are the natural resources of the planet. A few centuries ago, when there was only human strength to dig mine shafts, to dig for gold or to grow cotton and sugar cane, ship-owners and settlers used slaves, subdued by the whip and the gun. Today, ‘energy slaves’ are being used to extract metals, oil or coal. Although the colonial armies of occupation have disappeared for more than fifty years, except exceptions, the dispossession of the resources for the benefit of the most powerful has amplified. The looting of mineral, fossil and agricultural resources is the cause of capitalism and the wealth of Europe and its oligarchy. Mining* is both a mirror and a leverage of the ongoing globalization. It raises problems in terms of management and control, but also, more fundamentally, in terms of equality, rights and ultimately of societal choices. The many resulting conflicts take various forms and gather different social forces, which structuring largely determine the fate of our planet. The negative effects of mining are not only substantial, but also inevitable. They disrupt the environment because highly polluting, as well as society, and are potentially generators of human rights violations and conflict.

Mineral resources are at the heart of the debates and development and growth strategies in several southern states, in international financial institutions like the World Bank, and in continental bodies such as the African Union and the European Union. The industrialized blocks cannot do without the raw materials and the European Union, having to provision from outside its borders, has developed a policy to achieve its ends. On the other hand, minerals play an important role in the dynamics of trade relations (North-South and South-South) and conflicts (localized or generalized, latent or explicit). Finally, they participate fully in the global transformations in progress and thus constitute a privileged vantage point from which to examine current issues.