In today's world, critical minerals power a variety of technologies that have become indispensable to modern life. These include smartphones, medical devices and components required to generate renewable energy.
They're also used in the manufacture of steel, cement, glass, semiconductors, magnets, fibre optic cables (and other telecoms technologies), lasers, weapons (and other defence materials), commercial aircraft, nuclear reactors, laptops, fertiliser... and a whole lot more.