Minerals can be combined and used at large scales to create our infrastructure! The items in this section are based on some of the main elements used in infrastructure. Machinery, buildings and transport networks are just a few of the larger-scale areas that rely on critical materials.
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Perhaps the best known of these minerals is haematite, a major ore of iron. Iron is used in many large-scale structures like ships, cars and industrial machinery and 35 per cent of the world’s supply comes from Australia.
Bauxite is a sedimentary rock, not a mineral, but it is a primary ore of aluminium. In most cases, aluminium is alloyed with other metals to strengthen materials that are used to make vehicles like cars and planes, and structures like frames and windows. Bauxite is also the main source of the element gallium, which is used in semiconductors, circuitry and LEDs.
Vanadinite, an ore of vanadium, is mined mostly in Morocco and Namibia. It is a secondary mineral formed from chemical alterations of pre-existing minerals. Vanadium is used to strengthen steel as well as in batteries for grid energy storage.
Critical minerals in our everyday lives
Critical minerals in households
There are lots of items in our houses that rely on minerals, from kettles and windows to microwaves and food cans. The items in this section are based on elements extracted from pyrolusite, chromite and cassiterite.
Critical minerals in infrastructure
Minerals can be combined and used at large scales to create our infrastructure! The items in this section are based on some of the main elements used in infrastructure.
Critical minerals in lifestyle
Live, laugh, look at what we have here! This section is all about lifestyle and these items are based on bismuth and other elements extracted from the minerals ilmenite and monazite.
Critical minerals in medicine
Health is wealth and this section is all about medical uses of critical materials. Have you ever had an X-ray? What about a trip to the dentist? If you have, then you will have relied on equipment that contains elements extracted from rutile, rhodochrosite and sphalerite
Critical minerals in renewables
If the future is green then our energy must be clean! Items in this section represent renewable energy and are reliant on ores like chalcopyrite, bastnasite and graphite.
Critical minerals in technology
From phones and laptops to headphones and tablets, this section is based on the elements extracted from spodumene and quartz, and the element cobalt, that we use to make our technology.
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Critical minerals resources
Our modern lives rely on a whole host of metals and minerals that are extracted from the ground. Available resources include classroom activities and a touring festival stand.