To build a more sustainable future, we need a huge amount and variety of raw materials. If those materials cannot be grown or collected from natural ecosystems, then they must be mined, quarried or extracted from below the Earth’s surface.
In this video, geoscientists Amir Rafique and Gabriella Vincent-Hann investigate the connection between products, raw materials, and the important role that responsible mining has to play in building our sustainable future. We explore:
- How materials from sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks are used to build electric vehicles,
- How geographers and geoscientists find these materials through fieldwork and GIS analysis
- The primary industry of mining: How we extract these materials through traditional techniques like open pit and underground mining, and new innovative approaches like direct lithium extraction.
- The steps taken to manage the environmental and social impacts of extraction.
