Rio Tinto will spend A$28m (£14.5m) on a "toad containment zone" to keep cane toads from reaching the Pilbara region of Western Australia, according to the BBC. The mining company is working with Curtin University in Perth and other partners on the project.
The plan is to cut off the toads' water supply across 7,500 sq km of land between the Great Sandy Desert and the Indian Ocean. The five-year project will begin in 2027. The funding will be used to block access to dams, storage tanks and other ground-level water sources. The report says cane toads need water every few days in drier months.
The report says cane toads threaten native species in the Pilbara, including the northern quoll, whose numbers have been declining, the goanna lizard and the ghost bat. Roberta Hunter, a ranger in the Nyangumarta Warrarn Indigenous Protected Area, said: "Cane toads destroy the water and animals."
Ben Phillips, a professor at Curtin University, said the toads would reach the Pilbara within two decades without action. He said the 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."
The report says the toads were introduced to Australia in 1935 to control beetles in the sugar cane industry. It says they have since spread west at 40 km to 60 km a year, according to the Australian government.
The report notes that Rio Tinto is not directly threatened by the toads. It also notes that the company faced criticism for destroying two sacred Aboriginal rock shelters in the Pilbara, a decision that cost its former chief executive his job.