Mining in the global economy

Minerals and metals underpin national economies and provide crucial raw materials for industrial activities. Minerals and metals are inputs required by almost every imaginable sector of the global economy. Without minerals and metals there would be no modern agriculture; means of transportation in the form of aircrafts, cars, ships and trains; energy production and distribution (including from renewable energy sources); information and communication technologies; military defence; roads and other infrastructure; satellites; or even modern medicine. Minerals and metals are essential to human life. They are the starting point of many industrial supply chains and, as such, are assets of strategic importance to many downstream industries that simply would not exist without them. This chapter describes the global minerals and metals industry, providing an introduction to the structure of the industry and its role in economies.

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