Around Australia new mining operations are being established and old sites, shuttered decades ago, are being brought back to life.

These miners aren’t digging for coal or gold, they’re hunting for other lucrative commodities – known as critical minerals.

If you own a mobile phone, if you power your home with renewable energy or drive an electric vehicle, then these minerals are already playing a key part in your life.

Four Corners investigates the new critical minerals mining boom and finds Australia is in the box seat to exploit a surge in worldwide demand.

Subscribe:    / abcnewsindepth   Read more here:

ABC News In-depth takes you deeper on the big stories, with long-form journalism from Four Corners, Foreign Correspondent, Australian Story, Planet America and more, and explainers from ABC News Video Lab.

Watch more ABC News content ad-free on iview: https://ab.co/2OB7Mk1

For more from ABC News, click here: https://ab.co/2kxYCZY

Get breaking news and livestreams from our ABC News channel:    / newsonabc  
Like ABC News on Facebook:   / abcnews.au  
Follow ABC News on Instagram:   / abcnews_au  
Follow ABC News on Twitter:   / abcnews  

Note: In most cases, our captions are auto-generated.

#ABCNewsIndepth #ABCNewsAustralia