Key facts
- Rio Tinto and Curtin University plan a containment zone across 7,500 square kilometers between the Great Sandy Desert and the Indian Ocean.
- The project would block cane toads from dams, storage tanks and other ground-level water sources used for cattle and irrigation.
- Curtin University professor Ben Phillips said the toads would reach the Pilbara within two decades without action.
- Rio Tinto said the cane toad is not a direct threat to its business but endangers Pilbara wildlife including the northern quoll, goanna lizard and ghost bat.
Rio Tinto will spend A$28 million ($14.5 million) alongside Curtin University in Perth and other partners to build a "toad containment zone" aimed at stopping the poisonous cane toad from reaching the Pilbara region of Western Australia, where the mining company runs a large iron ore operation, the BBC reported on November 3, 2026.
The plan is to cut off the toad's water supply with a barrier across 7,500 square kilometers (2,895 square miles) of land between the Great Sandy Desert and the Indian Ocean. In drier months the cane toad needs water every few days, and without natural sources it relies on artificial water points normally used for cattle and irrigation. The funding will be used to stop the toads reaching dams, storage tanks and other ground-level water sources. The five-year project is due to begin in 2027.
Rio Tinto said the cane toad is not a direct threat to its business, but the animal produces toxins lethal to native wildlife and poses a threat to the Pilbara ecosystem. Species at risk include the northern quoll, whose numbers have been decreasing, the goanna lizard and the ghost bat.
Cane toads were introduced to Australia in 1935 to control beetles in the sugar cane industry. According to the Australian government, they have since moved west across the country's northern landscape at 40 km to 60 km a year, with no predators or diseases controlling them because they defend themselves with poison. Ben Phillips, a professor at Curtin University, said the toads would reach the 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," he said.
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."