5 In my view, our continued transformation into the “Minerals Solutions Industry” is key to our playing our role in defining and delivering what a better future looks like for our children. I can only hope that the seeds of today’s discussion might push us a little harder towards the future of mining and the role we play in delivering the materials that support the world and how we might progress over the next 100 years and beyond. 2. DISCUSSION – MINING IN CONTEXT So, to build a conversation on where we are and where we need to go, let’s unpack these 3 concepts to put better shape around how we must continue to transform our industry in our future context. 2.1 Where does “Stuff” come from? In recent years, there have been numerous books written explaining how the world works. Vaclav Smil and others deserve great credit for helping us understand how all these moving parts fit together. Unfortunately, we are still struggling to see these educational pieces translated into social studies and broader education programs in our schools and universities. In setting context for any conversation on mining’s role in society I always start with a few points on “where does matter come from?”. Of course, Einstein gets an appropriate mention, but the conversation on the Ancient Greeks is always a lot more illustrative to most people, when I talk to their understanding of the world they experienced. In 4 words the Greeks captured the nature of physical materials and energy they experienced in 450BC. In the 4 words used by Empedocles at the time: • Air • Water • Earth • Fire In our modern world, with Einstein and others helping us navigate science and the world we live in, we now believe we have a better understanding of atomic and molecular structures. And so, our modern definitions of matter have reflected 3,000 years of research and learning. If we go back to those 4 words used by the Greeks, we could modernize those words based on what we know and believe today. Today, we might use the Greek points in daily conversations: • Air: being made up of specific gases, both life-supporting and life threatening,
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