📱 Lesson 34: Minerals and Tech

Phones, batteries, cars, wind turbines, solar panels, computers, and military equipment need minerals such as lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, rare earth elements, graphite, and silicon.

Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia have major lithium resources in South America's "Lithium Triangle." Lithium is important for rechargeable batteries.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a major source of cobalt, used in some batteries. Mining can bring money, but it can also raise serious concerns about safety, child labor, corruption, and environmental damage.

Rare earth elements are used in magnets, electronics, defense technology, and green energy. China has played a major role in rare earth mining and processing.

Copper is essential for wires, electric grids, motors, buildings, and renewable energy. Chile is one of the world's major copper producers.

A product may be designed in one country, use minerals from another, be processed in another, assembled in another, and sold globally. Technology is a map of hidden connections.