![]() ![]() What makes your smartphone smart? That’ll be the rare earth elements – a group of 17 metals with weird names like praseodymium that are mined mostly in China, Russia and Australia. However, large-scale dredging of the seabed for the tin-rich sand has destroyed the precious coral ecosystem while the decline of the fishing industry has led to economic and social problems. The seas surrounding Indonesia’s Bangka and Belitung Islands supplies about a third of the world’s supply. Indium-tin oxide is applied to smartphone screens as a thin, transparent and conductive coating that gives touchscreen functionality. ![]() Tin is used for soldering in electronics. Illegal gold mining causes deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon. ![]() Recent catastrophic mine tailings spills highlight the danger of improper construction methods and lax safety monitoring. Typically, mine tailings are stored in vast impoundment structures that can be several square kilometres in area. However, enormous volumes of solid and liquid waste (termed mine “tailings”) are produced when extracting these metals from the earth. Aluminium is used as a lightweight alternative to stainless steel and also in the manufacture of the strong glass used in smartphone screens. Iron is used in speakers and microphones and in stainless steel frames. Iron (20%), aluminium (14%) and copper (7%) are the three most common metals by weight in your average smartphone. Let’s walk through some of the key metals in smartphones, what they do, and the environmental cost of getting them out of the ground. But the environmental cost can be enormous and is probably far greater than you realise. Mining these metals is a vital activity that underpins the modern global economy. Others, such as terbium, are less well-known. Each device is made up of numerous precious metals and many of the key technological features wouldn’t be possible without them. Nearly five billion people worldwide will use a smartphone by 2020. ![]()
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