Rio Tinto Commits A$28 Million to Block Cane Toads From Pilbara

Rio Tinto will spend A$28 million (£14.5 million) with Curtin University in Perth and other partners to stop the poisonous cane toad from reaching the Pilbara region of Western Australia, where the mining giant runs a vast iron ore operation.

The money funds a "toad containment zone" designed to halt the toad's southward spread. The five-year project begins in 2027.

The cane toad does not threaten Rio Tinto's business directly. But it produces toxins lethal to native wildlife and endangers the Pilbara ecosystem. The plan will cut off the toad's water supply across 7,500 sq km (2,895 sq m) of land between the Great Sandy Desert and the Indian Ocean.

Why water is the weapon

In drier months, the cane toad needs water every few days to survive. Without natural water sources, the toad depends on artificial water points built for cattle and irrigation. The funding will block toad access to dams, storage tanks and other ground-level water sources across the containment zone.

Ben Phillips, a professor at Curtin University, said the toads would reach Pilbara within two decades without action.

"The toad containment zone is a once in a lifetime opportunity to stop one of the world's worst invasive species in its tracks and protect the region's unique wildlife," Phillips said.

What species are at risk?

Several native animals face danger if the toad reaches Pilbara:

• The northern quoll, whose numbers have already been decreasing
• The goanna lizard
• The ghost bat

Australia introduced the toads in 1935 to control beetles in the sugar cane industry. Since then, they have marched slowly west across the country's northern landscape, according to the Australian government, covering between 40 km and 60 km a year. No predators or diseases control the toads, which defend themselves with poison.

Who benefits from the partnership?

Indigenous rangers will work on the front line of the containment effort. Roberta Hunter, a ranger in Australia's Nyangumarta Warrarn Indigenous Protected Area, said: "Cane toads destroy the water and animals."

"When toads come close to our country, we want to be there to stop them because we don't want the country to be destroyed," Hunter said.

Why the deal matters for Rio Tinto

The project gives Rio Tinto a high-profile environmental partnership in a region where its reputation has suffered. The company previously destroyed two sacred Aboriginal rock shelters in Pilbara that sat above tonnes of iron ore.

That decision cost the former chief executive his job and provoked a widespread backlash. Rio Tinto then committed to rebuilding trust with Indigenous communities.

The containment zone now pairs the miner with Indigenous rangers and university researchers on a shared conservation goal, seven years before the toads are projected to arrive on their own timeline. If the barrier works, Pilbara's quolls, goannas and ghost bats avoid the fate of wildlife across Australia's north — and Rio Tinto gains a concrete environmental result it can point to in the region.