It is no exaggeration to say that the modern world would not be able to function without mined minerals. From smart phonesto wind turbines and even toothpaste, the mining industry plays a pivotal role in their production and growth.
Indeed, mining and minerals are an essential component for sustainable development in modern economies. While minerals such oil, gas, coal and uranium energise the modern world, modern gadgets like smart phones could not function without a fair quantity of copper, silver, gold, palladium, platinum, ceramics, titanium dioxide and indium tin oxide.
Modern transport would not be possible without mining – a car, for example, contains close to a ton of iron and steel, 100 kg of aluminium and 19 kg of copper.
And it also plays an integral part in sustainable and green energy production, with a 2 MW wind turbine featuring around 300 t of steel, 5 t of copper, 3 t of aluminium and the casting of about 1 200 t of concrete, which requires limestone that is mined and stone that is quarried.
Mining is no less important for many of the home comforts we take for granted -the modern compact fluorescent light bulb, for example, needs mined minerals like bauxite, lead, copper, limestone, nickel and phosphorous.
Even toothpaste would not be possible without mining, as it contains silica, limestone, aluminium, phosphate, fluoride and titanium.
These interesting facts and figures reinforce the idea that, if it can’t be grown it has to be mined.