Raising awareness about minerals and metals for a green Europe
The future of the European raw materials industry is dependent on building strong connections with society. Without an accurate understanding of the importance of mineral resources, as well as how and from where these resources are obtained, citizens cannot contribute to the well-being of Europe with regards to securing essential mineral resources in ethical and sustainable ways.
The Briefcase project aims to foster such connections and understanding among primary and secondary students by providing engaging educational materials that teach about the role of minerals and mining in daily life and are related to social and economic issues. Using an innovative method, it teaches students ranging from 6 to 18 years old to identify minerals they use in their everyday lives. Furthermore, it encourages them to reflect on issues like conflict minerals, consequences of purchase decisions, sustainability of mining operations. An additional emphasis is placed on the importance of recycling, climate change and overall metals and minerals’ sector contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Minerals and metals represent the basis for our lives and any industrial production process. They provide everyday products and new solutions for modern infrastructure and technologies. The Briefcase and 3D Briefcase projects are great examples of how to increase awareness of the importance of minerals and metals for our society.
Rolf Kuby, Director General of Euromines
Offering an online teaching tool
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, schools in Europe and around the world are forced to use more and more online teaching tools. Educators are working hard to adapt to unprecedented circumstances and doing their best to provide students with new learning opportunities they can engage in, online and at home.
The Briefcase project has the potential to help fill this gap in education and offer teachers an interactive resource they can share with students, contributing to the goal of understanding the physical world around them and improving their general knowledge of minerals and mining in society.
The Briefcase game in two versions, one for younger kids and one for students ages 10 – 18, is now available in 31 languages!
Virtual mine visit and 360 experience ready for testing
The 3D Briefcase online game is almost finalised. In July, the 3D Briefcase virtual game was for the first time presented at the workshop organised at the Ekoetxea in Meatzaldea, Spain. The event provided an excellent opportunity for the first testing of the new 3D Briefcase tool. The main leader of this task – Tecnalia, one of the 3D Briefcase project partners, presented projects’ tools to the families that joined this event. Kids and their parents attending the workshop were able to enjoy a 3D experience of visiting the underground gold mine and discovering how mining has changed and developed into an innovative high-tech sector. The testing phase will be finalised in the next few weeks, and the 3D Briefcase will provide another excellent tool for raw materials education.
Highlighting the importance of minerals and metals in our daily lives
The newly completed publication of the 3D Briefcase project ‘The Briefcase book of daily use minerals’ is a comprehensive book and a teaching tool at the same time. It is intended to be used for teaching geoscience disciplines in schools and informing the public about the importance of mining and minerals in their daily lives. It also includes the Augmented reality features that can be observed with this free app for Android.
The demand for minerals and metals is continuously increasing in Europe and globally. Everybody engaged in developing a sustainable Europe relies on metals and minerals. The Briefcase and 3D Briefcase projects help raise awareness and knowledge about these important facts among kids, students, and their teachers and among the general public.
Would you like to try our physical Briefcase? Are you interested to see the mineral samples and play the game in your school? Please do not hesitate to contact the 3D Briefcase team!
