Downstream from the suspended Pascua-Lama mine, in Chile’s Atacama Region (Credit: Alturas Oceanicas)

The lure of precious metals and other natural resources has long been a source of conflict in Latin America, from the Andes to the Amazon and most everywhere else.  But new research has begun to put a price tag on this conflict, and investors have started to respond. When the lives and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples are uprooted by large-scale mining developments, their opposition is driving up the cost of these developments, a point that is finally starting to get noticed in corporate financial statements.

This is the focus of my latest post for National Geographic; to read more please visit: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/27/a-bottom-line-focus/