Tibet’s elevation has produced a unique, resource-rich geology. The opening of the Gormo-Lhasa Railway is allowing China to extract more efficiently Tibet’s copper, iron ore, lead, zinc and gold to fuel its booming economy and to lessen its dependence on costly imports. The railway has been deliberately routed through areas with rich mineral deposits. The plundering of Tibet’s vast natural resources without the free, prior and informed consent of the Tibetan people represents a violation of their fundamental right to determine how their economic resources are utilised.

China refers to Tibet as its “Western Treasure House”. The Plateau was also rich in timber resources at the time of China’s invasion and occupation in 1950, but decades of logging of Tibetan forests has resulted in the felling and export of half of Tibet’s forest-stock, regardless of the environmental cost. Mineral extraction had been more limited - with the opening of the Gormo- Lhasa Railway, however, this is changing.

In January 2007, the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, quoted comments by China's top geological official Meng Xianlai, director of the China Geological Survey, announcing the finding of significant mineral reserves in the proximity of the railway in Tibet. It was reported that total reserves could amount to more than 20 million tons of copper and 10 million tons of lead and zinc. Copper deposits included the Yulong copper find in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) which has a proven reserve of 7.89 million tons, making it the second largest copper mine in China and Tibet.

The proximity of the railway to mineral reserves confirms what Tibetans have suspected for some time: that one of China’s prime objectives for the railway is to transport vast quantities of Tibet’s enormous mineral wealth out of Tibet, denying Tibetans any opportunity to profit from the soaring commodity prices commanded by their resources which will instead be utilized by the booming industries of eastern China. The opportunity afforded by the railway to extract and transport Tibet’s vast mineral wealth lessens China’s dependence on costly foreign imports. Copper, in particular is highly prized as it is essential for the generation and transmission of the huge quantities of electricity demanded by China’s industrialisation. Iron ore is used to produce steel, essential for China’s burgeoning construction and auto industries.

Mining poses devastating social, economic and ecological consequences for local Tibetan communities. Mine operations have a particularly destructive track record when it comes to environmental impacts, especially gold and copper mining, which use harsh chemicals – usually cyanide or arsenic – in the processing stage. The likelihood of water contamination from the heaps of waste rock discarded at mine sites is also a major concern, especially given the close proximity of several proposed mining sites to Tibet’s main river systems, including the Yarlong Tsampo River.

Many of the Tibetan communities located near proposed mining sites, especially those in central Tibet and near the Sino-Tibetan border rely on an agricultural based economy. Mine operations will destroy grazing lands, negatively impacting the livelihood of local residents. In some cases the desecration of lands caused by mine construction will force entire villages to be relocated. The increased pressure from the immigration of Han Chinese migrant workers is also likely to have a disastrous effect on the region and lead to potential conflict between Tibetan residents and non Tibetan settlers.

The Chinese government is actively promoting resource extraction opportunities in Tibet to foreign firms who have both the capital and expertise needed to mine in Tibet’s inaccessible and often hostile environment. Free Tibet has campaigned against foreign-based companies that have sought to collaborate with China in the extraction of Tibet’s mineral wealth without the free, prior and informed consent of the Tibetan people. The campaign has won a number of victories.