Abstract
The mining industry is essential to our modern way of life, yet it is often perceived as outmoded and old-fashioned. However, over the last 250 years, the mining industry has greatly increased its geographical operational range, its technological capabilities, and its role as a supplier of essential inputs to economic growth. The chapter provides an introduction to the basics of mining, with an emphasis on the interplay among technology, business, and society that gives shape and direction to the industry’s dynamics. It offers a framework to examine the long-term development of the global mining industry across three dimensions: the geographical expanding, physical deepening, and, finally, the widening ability to supply the rising demand for different types of mineral resources in ever-larger quantities and with more specific properties.