Technology Metals for a Green Future

Explore the challenges of metal sourcing for modern, low-carbon technologies.

Smartphones, wind turbines, and electric cars are becoming standard features of modern life and are closely linked to a low-carbon, globally connected future. This has increased the demand for greater quantities and variety of metals to build these products, but access to many of them is restricted due to their geological or geopolitical situation.

On this course, you’ll learn how these metals are used, where they come from, and how they’re sourced. You’ll consider ways to cope with the growing demand and explore the ways in which we can achieve sustainable metals stewardship.

This course is designed for anyone interested in where the raw materials that are used to make modern technology come from, and how these can be sourced in an environmentally and socially sustainable way.

The course will be of particular interest to those working in industries along the critical raw materials value chain, particularly in the design and manufacturing of hi-tech products.

It will also be useful for school or university students looking to deepen their understanding of geology in general and ore formation and technology metals in particular, as well as those with an interest in science, economics, politics or geography, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the challenges of resource availability and sustainable development discussed in this course.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 689909.

• Technology metals for a green future
• Welcome - big questions and learning objectives
• More about technology metals
• Technology metals in manufacturing
• Critical Raw Materials
• Progress, reflection and further reading
• Geology, ore deposits and minerals
• Mineral resources and ores
• Ore deposits of Technology Metals
• Weathering deposits
• Minerals of technology metals
• Progress, reflection and further reading
• Exploring and production of technology metals ores
• Finding a mineral ore deposit
• Further prospecting
• Mining and mineral processing
• Next step in the value chain: the product
• Progress, reflection and further reading
• Responsible sourcing
• Entering the age of metals
• Responsible mining
• Ensuring ethical raw materials
• Progress, reflection, further reading