Objective:

The project is orientated to Wider Society Learning. The specific target audience will be primary school children aged from 6 to 14 years old, and their teachers. It will develop innovative popular science tools and content to explain mining activities and mineral applications to society. Important considerations will be dedicated to the Not In My Backyard concept and mining in equal conditions, as well as to the problem of so-called “blood minerals”.

The solution (technology):

The Project seeks to bring minerals and mining closer to society as a whole. Its ultimate goal is that citizens from an early age know where the mineral products they use in daily life come from, and how our daily purchase decisions affect to the social environment of the people who live in countries with resources exploitation. That it is not possible to live without minerals and without mines but, through example and a friendly approach, communicate that mining is a modern activity and that it has an impact on the society and environment that can be mitigated.

The BRIEFCASE is a novel product that has been used successfully by the Geomining museum and the IGME for ten years. It is distributed in two zones, in one the minerals are located and in another the applications of the same ones: a light bulb with your filament of tungsten, an aluminium tin, toothpaste that contains fluorine, etc. Although the BRIEFCASE is aimed at all ages, the primary focus will be primary school children to teenagers (6-14 years old) and their teachers.

Although the final configuration of the virtual BRIEFCASE and popular contents has not yet been decided, it can be “clicking” on a house or smart city- eg: you click on the car or on the house and a dropdown menu shows wich minerals and elements are included.
The Project will generate practical theoretical contents and a physical and virtual material (online), related with the consequences of the daily use of RM and their exploitation which will be transferred through a disruptive tool, the BRIEFCASE, and will be presented in different areas of Europe through universities and research centres. Once the Project is finished, the material will be available to the academic and educative community, which will be able to continue using it in their workshops and courses in an autonomous way, as well as lend it to teaching centres, congresses, and events that may request it, including training as the workshops will be later collected on the website so that anyone can replicate them.

Partners:

Gomez Pardo Foundation, Spain (Lead Partner)
Coventry University, United Kingdom
Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME – Spanish Geological Survey), Spain
Monolithos Ltd, Greece
Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria
Università degli Studi di Milano – Bicocca (University of Milano- Bicocca), Italy

For more information, please visit the project website.