You can find some metals in rivers or buried at the bottom of the sea. Others, such as iron, are found in rocks deep under the ground. There are many ways to dig rocks out of the ground. This is called mining.
Have you ever seen a hole in the ground, the size of 1,000 football pitches? It may be an open cast mine, dug by machines and miners. Metals, such as copper, lie in rocks near the ground. They are dug from these open cast mines. Huge drills and blasts of explosives loosen the rocks. Special machines scoop out the rocks and load them onto trucks.
Digging underground is hard work.
Many miners work deep underground digging for ores. The miners build tunnels that they can move along. With drills, saws and explosives they cut away the rocks. Deep underground mining is tough work.
Mines can destroy the homes of people, animals and plants.
Sometimes, people have to move home as whole villages are destroyed so an area can be mined. The habitats of animals and plants can be destroyed by mining works. Traffic from the mines can also harm the environment. Mines can spoil the look of the countryside.