World’s rarest ape faces extinction as billion-dollar gold mine expands into last remaining habitat

The Tapanuli orangutan, Earth’s most endangered ape species, is facing extinction as Indonesia’s Martabe gold mine expands deeper into the primates’ only remaining habitat in Sumatra’s rainforest. With fewer than 800 individuals left in the wild, this critically endangered species discovered only in 2017 could become the first great ape to disappear due to human activity.

Satellite imagery reveals a growing network of access roads carving through the Batang Toru ecosystem, where the entire Tapanuli population survives in an area representing just 2.5% of their historical range. The mining expansion, centered around the new Tor Ulu Ala pit, will unlock gold deposits worth billions in today’s market but threatens to fragment the orangutans’ already precarious habitat beyond recovery.

Scientists warn that the planned road network will slice through critical corridors the orangutans need to move between forest patches for feeding and mating. Unlike their Sumatran and Bornean relatives, Tapanuli orangutans are genetically distinct and found nowhere else on Earth, making their extinction irreversible.

The Martabe mine, operational since 2012, has already impacted the ecosystem’s southwestern border. While the mining company argues that alternative extraction methods would cause greater environmental damage, conservationists emphasize that the species’ survival hangs in the balance. The conflict highlights the ongoing tension between economic development and biodiversity conservation in one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, where a single infrastructure project could determine whether humanity’s closest relatives survive or vanish forever.