From computers to car batteries minerals extracted from the earth help power many of our devices

But what about the communities whose land is at the center of acquiring these minerals?

Just this week Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs halted plans to

transport uranium through Navajo Nation after the tribe raised concerns

about how it could affect the reservation. Ali Rogan reports on the fight between companies seeking minerals the For Wenzler Nosy and fellow members of the San Carlos and other local Apache tribes,

the Oak Flat campground outside Phoenix is the site of sacred ceremonies and the resting place for many ancestors. This is the home of our

deities where the deities live. But it's also home to billions of pounds of copper making

it valuable to mining companies.

Earlier this year, a federal court ruled in favor of developers looking to extract

copper from deep underground.

They have to think this through, because there's not going to be copper here forever and once once it's all gone

Then the whole self is contaminated forever

Mineral mining has become a booming industry across the country and the world.

As the demand for electric vehicles and the batteries that power them rises, so does the need

to ramp up the supply of the minerals needed to make them.

In recent years, demand for nickel, lithium, cobalt, and copper has grown exponentially.

Between 2021 and 2023, the price for one ton of lithium in U.S. markets nearly tripled,

reaching a high of $46,000 per ton last year.

Everything we see, touch, and feel in our modern life comes from minerals and that's everything from the computers we're talking on to the chairs we're sitting in. Even everything down to our smartphones comes from minerals.

Rick Tallman is a senior advisor to the Payne Institute

for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines.

Critical minerals necessary for the energy transition,

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