In brief

Mining Our Future follows every metal from the mine to the thing it makes possible. This visual hub is the fast way in: tap any strategic metal to see what it is used for and the Season 1 tour stop where we dig into it. It is for readers who want the mine-to-product story at a glance before the full glossary.

Know your minerals

The Strategic Metals

Tap any metal to see what it makes and the Season 1 stop where we dig into it. Want the full definition, why it matters, and the companies mining it? Open the glossary.

Precious metalBase metalCritical mineralBattery metalRare earth
Au

Gold

Precious metal
What it makes

Plated onto the connectors, chip contacts, and circuit boards inside phones, laptops, servers, and satellites, where the electrical link has to stay tarnish-free for decades.

On the tour

Season 1 follows gold from its frontier roots at the Orofino Gold Rush in Idaho (Episode 1) to the modern powerhouse of the Carlin Trend near Carlin, Nevada (Episode 5), the most productive gold trend in the Western Hemisphere, worked today by Barrick and Newmont. Gold also appears at Morenci, Arizona (Episode 8), where it is recovered alongside America’s largest copper output.