Use
Tungsten is a highly dense and durable metal, four times harder than titanium. It is used as a weight in a phone’s vibrator.
Location
A staggering 75% of the world’s tungsten comes from China. Other producers include North America, South Korea, Bolivia, Russia and Portugal. Tungsten is extracted from.

Use
Gold is used in mobile phones because it is a great conductor of electricity. The Gold con- nectors are also used for transmitting digital data fast and accurately.
Location
WAbout 60% of Australia’s gold resources occur in Western Australia, with the re- mainder in all other States and the Northern Territory. Virtually all resources occur in primary deposits.

Use
Plastics and fibreglass are used to make mobile-phone circuit boards, which are then coated with gold plating. Silver: A soft white precious metal, silver is also used in mobile-phone circuit boards.
Location
Silver is extracted and refined by gold refineries in Perth, Kalgoorlie and Melbourne from gold dore or bullion sourced from mainly Australian gold mines.

Use
Cobalt is important for rechargeable batteries, circuits and a range of other elec- trical components. Coating microscopic copper wires with cobalt makes microchips more reliable.
Location
More than half of the world’s cobalt supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Use
Lithium is essential to the production of cathodes in lithium-ion batteries.
Location
Lithium is found in rock and salt lakes called salars, which are mined or pumped out be- fore chemical extraction. Leading producers include Australia, Chile, Argentina and China. Demand for lithium is expected to expand rapidly as demand grows for environmentally friendly technologies.

Use
Copper is a vital element used to produce wiring for all kinds of electronics. It conducts electricity and heat very efficiently, and it is needed in larger amounts than any other met- al for mobile phone componentry. There will have to be an increase in its supply to meet the world’s growing demand for electronics.
Location
Copper is most frequently sourced from open-cut mines. Chile is the world’s largest supplier of copper, but the metal is also produced elsewhere North and South America.

Use
Adding tellurium to other metals improves their strength and hardness and reduces corro-sion. It can also be used for tinting glass and is vital to the manufacture of solar panels.
Location
Tellurium is found in copper ore and most often extracted as a by-product of copper pro- cessing. Tellurium is mined in Japan.

Use
sively for television circuit boards and dry-cell batteries, manganese can make electronics more resilient. The next generation of rechargeable batteries is likely to use more manga- nese.
Location
Although manganese is abundant in the Earth’s crust, 80% of the world’s supply comes from South Africa. It is also mined in Australia, China, India, Ukraine, Brazil and Gabon.