Global drylands host more than USD 1 trillion in resource extraction investments, which serve to reconfigure communities and landscapes. In Mongolia's Gobi Desert mega-mining brings social challenges and environmental changes that question if nomadic herding and mining can co-exist. Whilst company and community conflict are common, nascent frameworks and mediation models suggest alternate ways to resolve the mining-community conundrum. Here we investigate environmental transformations that herders encounter in the presence of the Oyu Tolgoi megamine in Mongolia's Khanbogd soum (district). Using socio-economic and physical data collected through interviews, field studies and climate records, we assessed local engagement and adaptation to large-scale mining. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods enabled us to examine the implications of mining for herder lives and lands in an integrated way. This study presents a holistic assessment of the roles of herders, governments and mines in reshaping pastoralism. In our chosen case study, we find that-contrary to common narratives-mining and herding can, and do, coexist in Khanbogd soum, though ongoing challenges exist which deserve critical attention.