Produced by the

Minerals Council of Australia

 Energy generation Fluorescent lighting

6 92 57 39 65

C U La Y Tb
Carbon Uranium Lanthanum Yttrium Terbium Produced by the
(Coal) Minerals Council of Australia

le
sib
os
31 58 63 65
Production and transmission

Ga Ce Eu Tb

d p
LED

orl
26 29 13

e w
Gallium Cerium Europium Terbium

Fe Cu Al
th
Iron Copper Aluminium n oweri g 26 74 24
Halogen
Fe W Cr
p

Iron Tungsten Chromium

kes

01
m a

Australia an energy powerhouse

g
nin

Australia exports two-thirds of the energy it

M i

produces, powering economies around the world.

Coal, uranium, oil and gas make up 20 per cent
Electricity travels of Australia’s total export value, earning the

Electricity at around 90 per cent nation around $90 billion a year. Australia will
increasingly play a role in meeting future global
of the speed of light. energy demand, according to the IEA.
 26 6 24 42 25 28

Fe C Cr Mo Mn Ni
Machinery used to process
and manufacture food

Iron Carbon Chromium Molybdenum Manganese Nickel

Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

50
Coca-Cola uses 300,000
Sn
Canning

Tin
(tin-coated steel)
tons of aluminium every year

Mining makes th e
in the US – 17.4% of total US 29

Cu

Copper
aluminium production. Alloys reduce food
contamination

11
Aluminium

13

Na

Sodium
Al
Flavour enhancer
Preservative

02
pr

rv
es

at
Foil packets
e

Drink cans i o n of food possible Sustainable coffee pods

Rio Tinto has partnered with coffee giant

Food
Nespresso to supply sustainable aluminium for
its coffee capsules after becoming the world’s
24

Chromium
first company to be certified by the Aluminium
Cr
processing
Blender blades
Machinery plating Stewardship Initiative (ASI). Certification reflects
the highest environmental, social and governance
practices across the aluminium lifecycle.
 22 29

Titanium
Artificial joints Kills surface microbes

Ti Cu

Copper
Prosthetic limbs and reduces infections
Surgical equipment Electronic devices

78

Platinum
Pt
Pacemakers 3 Treatment of

Li

Lithium
Produced by the
Medical apparatus bipolar disorder
92 Minerals Council of Australia

Uranium U
Medical implant
batteries

d ic i n e a n d t re a
me t me
Cancer treatments
nt 79

ode r n po
Au
Radiation therapy Diagnosis
m ssi

Gold
makes ble
Mining
Nanotechnology

47 Metal-based compounds
Ag
Anti-bacterial
are crucial to the diagnosis
Silver

Aides healing

and treatment of disease.

03
Gold nanoparticle technology
Gadolinium

64

Gd The nanotechnology boom has opened up a

MRIs and x-rays
Diagnostic tracer new frontier of early detection, diagnosis and
treatment of diseases. Gold nanoparticle
technology is being used to target and deliver

Health care
41

Niobium
Nb
antibodies directly into cancerous tumors.
Medical devices
They are also being engineered to attach to
cancer-related proteins to aid earlier detection.
 Sound
79 29 47 73 74
Electronics
Au Cu Ag Ta W 60 5
Gold Copper Silver Tantalum Tungsten
Nd B
olding t h e
Neodymium Boron Produced by the
h wo
es
Minerals Council of Australia

a k rld 28 59
m in
g
Ni Pr
Touch screen

i nin yo
ur
M ha
nd
po
14 50 19 Nickel Praseodymium

Si Sn K ssi
ble More than 40
Silicon Tin Potassium mined metals and
49 13 31
rare earths are used
In Al Ga to produce a single
smartphone.
Indium Aluminium Gallium

04
13 3 27 Modern day gold mine
Battery
Al Li Co One tonne of mobile phones yields more gold
than one tonne of gold ore. Tech companies
Aluminium Lithium Cobalt are cashing in on this gold mine by rolling out
recycling programs. Apple’s recycling program

Smartphones
reaped almost a tonne of gold in 2015. Last year
Apple debuted a robot called ‘Daisy’ that can
disassemble up to 200 iPhones an hour.
 Steel used to build
white goods

Aluminium
13
26 6 30

Fe C Zn Mining makes the

Al
Condenser

products that make every day possible

Iron Carbon Zinc Produced by the
Fan blades Minerals Council of Australia

More than 75% of fridges

sold in Australia are now 26 24 14

stainless steel. Fe Cr Si
Stainless Iron Chromium Silicon
steel

29 6 28 25

Cu C Ni Mn
Copper

Electrical wiring
Compressors

Carbon Nickel Manganese

05
22
Titanium

Ti Lost Sock Index

Scientists devised a ‘Sock Loss Index’ in 2016
Paint and some
finishes to find out why socks go missing in the wash.
This formula (L(p x f)+C(t x s))–(P x A) explains
why Britons lose on average 1.3 socks a month.

White goods
Unsurprisingly it’s down to the complexity and
care taken while doing laundry. The research was
clever marketing by a white goods company.
 26 25 23 42 13 12

Fe Mn V Mo Al Mg
Car body and chassis
made from strengthened steel
and aluminium alloys

Iron Manganese Vanadium Molybdenum Aluminium Magnesium

Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

h e cars of today and tom In 1899, 90% of New York

a k es t orro
w
g m po
Mi n i n ssib City’s taxi cabs were 58

Ce

Cerium
LCD screens
le
electric vehicles. Windscreens

66 60
Magnets in EV motors
Dy Nd
Dysprosium Neodymium

06
3 27 28 6 29 Electric cars aren’t new
Li Co Ni C Cu

Copper
EV batteries London inventor Thomas Parker designed and
built the first practical electric car in 1884. In
Lithium Cobalt Nickel Carbon
the 19th and early 20th centuries, electric cars
Connectors
fueled by high-capacity rechargeable batteries

Electric cars
Brakes
Bearings were the most popular cars on the road. It wasn’t
until a more advanced combustion engine and
the expansion of highways that sales dropped off.
 47 83

Bismuth
Ag Bi
Navigation Optics (lenses)

Silver
Radio equipment Ammunition

24

Chromium
Aircraft

Cr Missiles

Germanium
Engines 32 Produced by the
23 Fibre optics
Vanadium
Ge
Minerals Council of Australia

V
Infrared optics
Electronics

Armor plating Australia’s

F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter can
travel at 1.6 times
51 75 the speed of
Antimony

Rhenium
Sb Re
Exhausts
Turbine fans sound – or almost
2,000 km/h.

07
Ammunition

Mining makes protecting Fighter pilot futuristic tech

our nation possible
Manganese

25 Batteries Australia’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter pilots will

Mn Ship building
Jet engines
wear custom-made, augmented reality helmets
worth A$533,000 each. Made of Kevlar and
carbon fibre, the helmets are packed with

Defence
21

Scandium
Sc
Jet aircraft electronics that project data inside the visor.
Missiles Vision from sensors located around the aircraft
allow pilots to effectively see ‘through’ the jet.
 48 52 42 4 32 31

Cd Te Mo Be Ge Ga Semi-conductor

Solar Cadmium Tellurium Molybdenum Beryllium Germanium Gallium

panels 5 15
49 47 14
B P
In Ag Si
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

ssible Boron Phosphorous

p o
Indium Silver Silicon
e r a tion
e n
n ergy g
Solar PV accounts e
l e 13 22
ab
for around 3.4%
a k e s ren e w
Frame
Al Ti
of Australia’s total ng m
Mini
Aluminium Titanium

electricity generation. 30 12

Zn Mg

08
Zinc Magnesium

Solar energy powering mining

Solar energy is increasingly powering Australia’s
remote mining operations. In 2015, Rio Tinto built
29 the Weipa Solar Plant to power its bauxite mine

Cu

Copper
and processing facilities on the Western Cape

Solar panels
York Peninsula in Queensland, the first of its kind.
Electricity generated by Weipa Solar offsets up
Wiring to 600,000 litres of diesel usage each year.
 26 24 42 25 28

Aluminium
13
Steel
Fe Cr Mo Mn Ni Al
Iron Chromium Molybdenum Manganese Nickel
Cladding
Window frames

m home possib Fixtures

u ilding you r drea le House paint Produced by the

b
Minerals Council of Australia

s
m ake
i n ing 22
M

Titanium
Ti Almost half of all
new homes built in 2018

Magnesium
20 12
were apartments.
Mg
Calcium

Ca
Masonry
Mortar 30 29 Plumbing

Zn Cu

Copper
Zinc
Electrical wiring
Airconditioning

09
Houses are shrinking (a bit)
Australians are slowly falling out of love with the
McMansion. The average house is 186.3 square
metres – the smallest since 1996, according
82 50
to CommSec. That’s still 8 per cent bigger than
Pb Sn
Your house
Solder
20 years ago and almost 30 per cent bigger than
in 1987-88. Only the United States builds bigger
Lead Tin houses – 230.8 square metres on average.
 26 25 13 42 82 12

Fe Mn Al Mo Pb Mg
Trains, trams,
buses and taxis

Iron Manganese Aluminium Molybdenum Lead Magnesium

need to go possible
ou
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

Mining makes getting where y

Aircraft

26 14 29 13

Fe Si Cu Al
Aluminium

13 21 22
Scandium

Titanium Air

Al Sc Ti conditioning

Iron Silicon Copper Aluminium

Neodymium

41 60 30
Niobium

Nb Nd Zn
Zinc

29 79 50

Cu Au Sn
GPS and
electronics

10
Copper Gold Tin

Public transport in Australia

Sydney tops the nation when it comes to public

Public
transport users, with one in five making their
daily commute on trains, buses and ferries. It also
Melbourne has the world’s has one of the most extensive networks in the

transport largest tram network with country, with more than 4,000 buses, 2,000 train
carriages, 30 ferries and a combined patronage
250 kilometres of track. of more than 7 million people (2016-17).
 5 Cleansers

Boron
11 Water softener
Detergents

Na

Sodium
Detergents
Oven cleaner 30

Zn
Drain opener Plastic bottles

Zinc
Soaps

idable
Mining makes the un avo po
s s ible
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

Carbon
Plastic bottles
Stain remover
Phosphorus

15

P
Laundry powders
Dish detergents
53

Iodine
Disinfectants
Sanitisers

17
Chlorine

Cl
Bleach
Pool cleaner 14

Si

Silicon
Steam cleaning
Furniture polish

11
Tomato sauce and elbow grease
Tomato sauce and elbow grease can make

Cleaning
blackened pots and pans and tarnished brass
objects shine like new. The acetic acid in tomato
Salt has been used as sauce breaks down the copper oxide that builds

products a natural scourer since over time. Apply a layer of tomato sauce to the
discoloured surface, leave for half an hour and
medieval times. then scrub it to a shine.
 6 26

M i ning
ma
ke i a n
a
land m r k s
po
C Fe
s Austral s Steel beams and Carbon Iron
supports

si
bl
14 25

e
Si Mn
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

Silicon Manganese
13

Al Before he made
Flag pole Aluminium throwing a shrimp on
30 29 6 the barbie famous,
Zn Cu C Paul Hogan worked as
Electrified
rail lines

Copper Carbon
a rigger building
Zinc
Fireworks
the bridge.

12
51 30 22 56 38 29

Strontium
Antimony

Titanium

Building the bridge

Sb Zn Ti Ba Sr Cu

Copper
Barium
Zinc

The Sydney Harbour Bridge took eight years,

1,400 men, 53,000 tonnes of steel and 6 million
Glitter Smoke Whites Greens Reds Blues
hand driven rivets to build. Labor Premier Jack
Lang opened the bridge on 19 March 1932.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

The ceremony was briefly interrupted when
ex-servicemen Francis de Groot charged on
horseback and cut the ribbon with his sword.
 14 15 51 5 73

Si P Sb B Ta
Computer
processors Batteries

Silicon Phosphorous Antimony Boron Tantalum

3 28

Mi n i n g m a
ke
Li Ni Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia
Lithium Nickel

s
LCD screens

ou
r f
79 29 4

Au Cu Be

avo
14 50 49

Si Sn In
Silicon

Indium
Tin

u ri t e
Circuit boards Gold Copper Beryllium

d e v ice s
63 39 58 32 47 74
Europium

Eu Y Ce Ge Ag W
Yttrium

Cerium

po s s i b
Germanium Silver Tungsten

13
Australia gave the world WiFi

le
WiFi was developed in the radiophysics lab

iPads &
at CSIRO in the 1990s. The technology was
a revolution in mobile computing and is today
There will be 6 times more devices estimated to be in more than five billion electronic

Xboxes connected to the internet than devices. For its efforts, CSIRO has earned more
than $430 million through licensing agreements
people in the world by 2020. with tech companies since 1996.
 13 40 9 20 13 11
Deodorant
Al Zr Toothpaste
F Ca Al Na
Aluminium Zirconium Flourine Calcium Aluminium Sodium

le
Produced by the

sib
Minerals Council of Australia
s
19

Potassium
po
K
Fragrances

om
30

Zn
Tanning lotions Suncreens
hro

Zinc
t
Soaps

e ba
h
22
i n g t
Titanium

Ti ogg
Whitening agent
h
in powders and

kes
cosmetics 29
a
Cu

Copper
g m
Electric shavers

i n
and toothbrushes
n
Mi
26

Magnesium
Fe
Cosmetic 12

Mg
Anti-caking (talc)
Iron

pigment
Used in foundations
Metal polish powders and creams

14
Ancient cosmetics
Humans have been enhancing their appearance

Personal
for thousands of years. In Ancient Egypt, women
lined their eyes using kohl, a lead sulphide. In
Australians spend Greece, women sought out lead carbonate to

hygiene $4.5 billion every year on make their complexion pale. By 3000 B.C, men
and women in China stained their fingernails.
toiletries and cosmetics. Well manicured nails reflected status.
 ible
ss

vices po
79 78 47
Investment metals
Au Pt Ag
Gold Platinum Silver

oo ds an ser
Produced by the

d
Minerals Council of Australia

29 13 28

Cu Al Ni
Australia’s
$1 and $2 coins
26 6

Fe C
g
xc hange of
Copper Aluminium Nickel Australia’s 5, 10, 20 and
50 cent coins
Coin press Iron Carbon
robotics
29 30 79 78 47 29 28

Cu Zn Au Pt Ag Cu Ni
he e Collector
coins
s t

Copper Zinc Gold Platinum Silver Copper Nickel

m a ke

15
Making money
ning

Robots Titan and Robbie work alongside

Mi

three autonomous vehicles – Penny, Pence

The Royal Australian and Florin – and a human staff of around 170
Mint can produce up to people to produce the nation’s coins at the

Currency
Royal Australian Mint in Canberra. Outside
two million coins per day. maintenance and quality checks, no human
hands touch the product in the coin hall.
 47 30 19

Ag Zn K
Alkaline batteries e.g. toys and electronics Silver-oxide batteries
e.g. watches, calculators

30 25 19 Silver Zinc Potassium

Zn Mn K Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia
Zinc Manganese Potassium

3 27 28

Li Co Ni
Lithium-ion batteries e.g. mobile phones Electric vehicle
batteries

3 27 6 Lithium Cobalt Nickel

Li Co C
82
Lithium Cobalt Carbon

Pb
Lead acid

Lead
car batteries
le
possib

16
es
logi
t e chno
g
rgin
Battery-powered telephony
m e
a k es e French scientist Georges Leclanché invented a
m
ing
battery consisting of a zinc anode encompassed
M i n 95% of cobalt, lithium by a magnesium dioxide cathode which was used
to power early telephones. The dry cell battery

Batteries
and graphite in batteries was good for intermittent use – long conversations
would run the battery down and the conversation
can be reused. would become inaudible.
 Paper and cardboard

e s printed products possible

11 12 20

Na Mg Ca
Sodium Magnesium Calcium Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

Ink pigment

6 24 24 14 28 47
Chromium

48
Cadmium

C Cr Cd Cr Si Ni Ag
Carbon

3D printing Chromium Silicon Nickel Silver

Black Green Yellow

26 22 35

m ak
6 7 25 22
Titanium

Bromine

Fe Ti Br C N Mn Ti
Iron

ng 76

Osmium
Os Carbon Nitrogen Manganese Titanium
Mini
Blue White Red

17
Pen tips
Australia’s first printing press

Commercial
The first printing press arrived in 1788, but it
Times New Roman wasn’t until convict George Hughes taught
himself to use it that the ink started flowing. NSW
uses 27 per cent less Governor John Hunter commissioned Hughes to

printing
print government orders and regulations. Hughes
ink than Arial. produced more than 200 documents as the
government printer, a job he held until 1800.
 Mining makes good dental health possible
Dental amalgam (fillings)

47 29

Ag Cu

Copper
Silver
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia
50 80

Sn Hg

Mercury
Tin
Crowns and bridges

74 6 27

W C Co
79 47 78

Au Ag Pt
Dental drills Tungsten Carbon Cobalt
Gold Silver Platinum and instruments
(also stainless steel)
28 45 22

92 Ni Rh Ti

Uranium
U
22
Titanium

Dental implants
Ti Nickel Rhodium Titanium

18
X-rays
40 Tooth extraction with a shave?
Zirconium

Zr Barbers were just as likely to pull a rotten tooth as

offer a shave or a hair cut during the Middle Ages.
Almost 17 tonnes of gold Tooth extractions were performed by ‘barber
surgeons’ as part of routine hygenic services. The

Dentistry
were used by dentists red and white barbers’ pole even represented
bloodletting – the white stripe represented the
globally in 2017. bandage used to stem the blood.
 29 47 79 22 30
Coffins and urns
Cu Ag Au Ti Zn
Copper Silver Gold Titanium Zinc

Produced by the

e Stainless steel used in cremators Minerals Council of Australia

l
High temperature refractory cremator bricks

ib
ss
26 24 14 25

stage of life po
13

Al Mg
12 14

Si Fe Cr Si Mn
Iron Chromium Silicon Manganese
Aluminium Magnesium Silicon
6 28
20

Ca
24

Cr C Ni 49 7
Cryogenic
procedures In N
ev ery
Carbon Nickel
Calcium Chromium
Nitrogen

19
Indium
ke s

Recycling post-mortem
ma

Titanium, gold, silver and platinum are some of the

g n

metals from dental work and artificial joints not

in i

destroyed during a cremation. Crematoriums can

Nearly 100,000
M

choose to recycle these metals, shipping them

Funerals
Australians received hip or free of charge to a company in the Netherlands.
Local crematoriums then receive a percentage of
knee joint replacements in 2016. the revenue, which they usually donate to charity.
 14 50 73 74 13 29

Si Sn Ta W Al Cu
Digital film
cameras

Silicon Tin Tantalum Tungsten Aluminium Copper

ibl e
poss
Produced by the

ion
Minerals Council of Australia

Mining makes bin y t e levis Sound bars

Oscar statuette ge - wor th and speakers
Television electronics

79 50 22

Au Sn Ti
Gold

Chromium
29 24 14
Tin

Cu Cr Si

Copper

Silicon
Titanium
51 29
Antimony

Sb Cu
Copper

13 79 50 30

Al Au Sn Zn

Gold

Zinc
Tin
20
Aluminium

Kelly Gang film the world’s first

The world’s first multi-reel, feature length film,

Film &
The Story of the Kelly Gang, was screened at
The top grossing Australian Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theatre in 1906. The
production took six months, was shot around

television
box office movie is the 1986 Melbourne and cost £1,000. It ran for five weeks,
with actors providing voices to the screening and
film, Crocodile Dundee. youngsters creating sound effects backstage.
 15 7 19 Around 20-40% of ‘ugly’ fruit and
P N K veg is rejected before it reaches
Farm Phosphorous Nitrogen Potassium the supermarket.
fertilisers
16 26

S Fe
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia
26 13

Fe Al
Tractors and
Vegetable storage and distribution harvesters
Sulfur Iron
Stock feed nutrients
h e al Iron Aluminium
26 24 14
es thy liv
ing po
Fe Cr Si ssibl

Manganese
29 27 25
e

ma
Cu Co Mn

Copper

Cobalt
g
Iron Chromium Silicon

ni n
Mi
6 28 25

C Ni Mn

Magnesium
34 12 30

Selenium
Se Mg Zn

Zinc
Carbon Nickel Manganese

21
Made fresh in Australia
Australia has more than 85,000 farm businesses

Meat
that produce almost 93 per cent of the nation’s
food supply. In fact, every Australian farmer
produces enough food to feed 600 people – 150

& vegies
at home and 450 overseas – which also makes us
a leading food export nation. Around 65 per cent
of Australia’s farm production is exported.
 Smoke Safe
detectors or lock box

Americium
95 26

Am Fe

Iron
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

Mi

ble
47 6

Ag C

Carbon
nin

Silver
si
os
g
ak
14 49

Si In e

p
es om
pro h
tec ting y o ur
79
Thermal imaging
Au Australians will

Gold
Silicon Indium
home security
cameras
32 51 send and receive more
Ge Sb Fire sprinklers 3 than 1 billion parcels
Li

Lithium
Germanium Antimony
a year by 2021.
83 82 50 48

Bi Pb Sn Cd

22
Bismuth Lead Tin Cadmium Home security is changing
Australia’s online shopping habit is seeing us

Home 13 15
send and receive parcels en masse – 841 million

Al P
parcels in 2017, up from 778 million in 2016.
Fire extinguisher
New tech-rich ways of monitoring parcel delivery,

protection
from smart locks to digital access lock boxes to
Aluminium Phosphorus personal services that ‘fetch’ parcels, are adding
another dimension to home security demands.
 Mining makes science to save the plan
Nanoscale metal
20 blends are used to break

Calcium
Ca
Soil quality
Fertilisers down contaminants
in groundwater.
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

78 45 46

Palladium
Rhodium
Platinum

Pt Rh Pd
6

Carbon
Water desalination 6 13

79 6 58
Air filtration
Nanofibre membrane
technology C Al
Humidifiers

Au C Ce
Catalytic converters
Carbon

Cerium
Carbon Aluminium
Gold

Reduce vehicle and

other emissions

26 6 13 30

Fe C Al Zn
Carbon capture

et
Manganese

26 25 28 and storage

Fe Mn Ni
Nickel
po
Iron

ssibl
e
Iron Carbon Aluminium Zinc

23
19 Metal-organic frameworks

Potassium
K Researchers from CSIRO, Monash University

Environmental
and the University of Texas have developed a
desalination membrane that separates salt and
Plant health
lithium from seawater. Metal-organic frameworks

solutions
Soil quality
(MOFs) are a next generation material that filters
chemical compounds, making seawater safe to
drink and recovering lithium for use in batteries.
 79 18 carat gold 29 47 30 28

Au Cu Ag Zn Ni
Melbourne Cup
contains metal alloys
18 carat gold
such as:

Gold Copper Silver Zinc Nickel

Mining makes th e
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia
Jockeys in Victoria

rac
26
must have a blood-alcohol

e th
Fe
Iron

14 24 26
reading under 0.02.
Si Cr Fe

at st
Horse shoes op
s Stainless steel
th Bridle bits and buckles, Silicon Chromium Iron
29 27 20 e stirrups and other equipment

Calcium
Cu Co Ca
Copper

Cobalt
25 28 6

n a ti o n po si b
Race horse
nutrition
Mn Ni C
34 30 11 Manganese Nickel Carbon
Selenium

Se Zn Na
Sodium
Zinc

24 s
e
Queensland gold for the Cup

l
Evolution Mining’s Mt Rawdon mine in

Melbourne
Queensland produced the gold that made the
2018 Melbourne Cup. Manufactured by ABC
Bullion, the Cup takes around 250 hours to

Cup
produce using 44 hand-spun pieces of 18-carat
gold. The iconic three-handled trophy was first
presented to Cup winner Artilleryman in 1919.
 Baby powder Foetal monitor

12 14 29 79 13

Mg Si rie
s possi
b le Cu Au Al

m a kes mo dern delive

Magnesium Silicon Copper Gold Aluminium
Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

Forceps and other instruments

Ultrasound machine

26 24 28
Chromium

Fe Cr Ni
Nickel

40 22

Zirconium
Iron

Titanium
n g Zr Ti
i ni
M
Manganese

14 6 25

Si C Mn
Birthing bed
Carbon
Silicon

29 82

Cu Pb

Copper

Lead
6 26

C Fe

Carbon

Iron
25
Humidicrib a local invention
Tasmanian brothers Edward and Don Both

Birthing A baby is born every invented the humidicrib in the late 1930s.
Aluminium

13
Poliomyelitis was at epidemic levels and the
Al 100 seconds in Australia, portable device was an inexpensive alternative

suites
to the ‘iron lung’. Today the humidicrib is used
Baby station
according to the ABS. in hospitals across the globe and has helped
Nurses trolley save the lives of millions of premature babies.
 Brewing kettle

Cenosillicaphobia

M inin g m a k e s b r e w i n g a
29 13
is the fear of an empty
Cu Al beer glass. True.
Copper Aluminium Produced by the
Minerals Council of Australia

26 24 14 16 6 26

Fe Cr Si Amber glass
bottles S C Fe
Stainless steel
equipment, pipes, Iron Chromium Silicon Sulfur Carbon Iron

nd
storage
6 28 25

C Ni Mn

b
26 24 14

o
Fe Cr Si

ttling
Green glass

Aluminium
13
bottles
Carbon Nickel Manganese
Al Iron Chromium Silicon

possi ble
26
Beer tops
29 30
A short history of bottling
Cu Zn
Brass fittings
and valves Beer cans
Commercial bottling is believed to have started
in the latter part of the 17th century, but it wasn’t
Copper Zinc
until after World War I that demand for bottled
13 50

Al Sn
beer soared. Early manufacturers struggled

Brewing beer
making glass bottles strong enough to withstand
the carbonation. Producers eventually worked
Aluminium Tin out that longneck beer bottles were the solution.
 14 5 11 19 73
Optical glass in telescopes,
microscopes, binoculars
and camera lenses Si B Na K Ta
Silicon Boron Sodium Potassium Tantalum

eaching fo
r
Produced by the

kes
Minerals Council of Australia
14 5 13
a
Si B Al m

rt
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ing
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Silicon Boron Aluminium
Australia’s Parkes

ta r s p
26 6 30 os
Observatory radio
Fe C Zn telescope, 'The Dish',
Hardware sibl
e
components
was used by NASA
Iron Carbon Zinc
during the Apollo 11
28 3 Moon landing.
Digital camera
Ni Li

27
batteries

Nickel Lithium
Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope orbits around

Lenses &
547 kilometres above Earth, travelling more than
6 billion kilometres since it launched in 1990. It has
recorded more than 1.3 million observations for

telescopes
astronomers and moves at a speed of 27,300 kph.
If a car moved that fast it would travel between
Perth and Sydney in nine minutes.
 Railway tracks Traffic lights

26 6 25 14 29 13

Fe C Mn M
Si Cu Al
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Iron Carbon Manganese in Silicon Copper Aluminium
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Minerals Council of Australia

Titanium Chromium
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Road 13 12 30
el
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markings
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Guard
rails
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Aluminium Magnesium Zinc

ad
13 30

Al Zn
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Fe Mo
Road signs

and
Bridges

ra
Aluminium Zinc

lp i
Iron Molybdenum

28
ss o
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le

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Road and rail in Australia
There are 874,500 km Australia has one of the world’s most extensive
road networks per capita – twice the length of
of road in Australia. Canada’s. 17 per cent of the 874,500 km
14

Si
road network is urban, the rest non-urban,

Silicon
Roads & rail
according to the Department of Infrastructure
and Regional Development. Australia also has
Cats eyes 33,000 km of heavy rail and 291 km of light rail.
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26 60 5 66

Fe Nd B Dy
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on
generation

ti
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Minerals Council of Australia

Mini

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in
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3 28 25

Li Ni Mg Mo Zn
Battery energy Corrosion
storage protection
26

Fe
Steel used to
Lithium Nickel Manganese build turbines Molybdenum Zinc

27 6 23
Iron

Co C V 6
More than 220 tonnes of
Cobalt Carbon Vanadium
C coal is required to build
a wind turbine.

29
Carbon

29 14
Wind power across Australia
Controls
Cu Si Aluminium
Windfarms generated 12,700 gigawatt hours
of electricity across Australia in 2017 – enough
Copper Silicon 13 to power over two million homes. More than

Al 5,600 megawatts of wind capacity is now

Windfarms
connected to the grid, with wind generation
accounting for around 5 per cent of Australia’s
Blades
total electricity generation.
 Spacecraft

Shuttle body Rocket engines

on possible

ti
13 22 29 41

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Produced by the
Aluminium Titanium Copper Niobium Minerals Council of Australia

s pa c
Thermal protection
e s
ak
14 32

Si Ge
Control
m system
14 6 74 73

Si C W Ta

g
in
Silicon Germanium

in
M
Silicon Carbon Tungsten Tantalum
The International Space Station
92
orbits Earth every 92 minutes. That’s
Uranium

U Energy source
15-16 sunrises and sunsets a day.

30
e.g. Mars Rover

79 Golden Records of life on earth

Au NASA launched the Voyager Golden Records

Space

Gold
– two gold-plated copper phonograph records
containing sounds and images from Earth – into
Astronaut visors
space in 1977. Intended for future spacefarers or

travel
Radiation reflector
58 intelligent lifeforms, the records contain greetings

Ce
Cerium

Optics in 55 languages and sounds ranging from rain and

thunder to birds, frogs, laughter and children.