The podcast about responsible mining, critical minerals and the raw materials behind modern life, from the energy transition to the buildings we live in. Each week, geologist and sustainability specialist Dr Sarah Gordon sits down with engineers, investors, policymakers, researchers and community leaders from across the mineral value chain to explore how decisions about raw materials are really made: what works, what doesn't, and the trade-offs in between.
New episodes every Thursday.
Produced by Critical Productions. Learn more at responsiblerawmaterials.com
After the Miners Left: Cornwall's Accidental Ecosystems with Eva Marquis
Cornwall’s 4,000-year mining heritage has left more than engine houses behind.
Geologist Eva Marquis, innovation fellow and lecturer at the Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, works on critical minerals, the circular economy and responsible mining in the landscape she grew up in.
Its abandoned mine workings now host ferns, lichens and microbial mats that glow under UV light.
Those accidental ecosystems raise one of the hardest questions in mine closure: should old mine sites be remediated, or have generations of history given them a value of their own?
For Eva, the answer depends on context, and on managing resources at a regional scale rather than one project at a time. One mine may be manageable.
Three in the same region stack up mine waste and impacts that outlast closure, often leaving local governments to carry the cost. The conversation also covers Cornish knockers and pasties, the UN Resource Management System, critical minerals policy, and a sustainable future for Cornwall.
Produced by Critical Productions. Learn more at responsiblerawmaterials.com
22 Oct 2026
A Deposit Isn’t a Project: Rethinking Mineral Exploration, with Matt Grimshaw
Dr Matt Grimshaw is an exploration geologist and a Yorkshireman through and through. His curiosity about the landscape took him from Leeds to the Yukon, collecting soil samples by helicopter during the white gold rush, then back for a PhD on the region’s gold. After years of technical consulting worldwide, he stepped sideways into risk and sustainability, and has since co-founded Worth Discovery.
Matt’s challenge is to the assumptions the industry rarely questions. Finding a deposit is not the same as finding a project. With mines taking fifteen to twenty years to reach production, why are so many decisions still based on designs from decades ago? And why justify exploration with shifting narratives, from rare earths to defence, rather than the enduring role of a steward of the land? Responsibility, he argues, can’t simply be declared. It has to be demonstrated.
The conversation also moves through Yorkshire’s mining past, from Pennine lead to the Woodsmith Mine, the Hunger Games of junior exploration, why generalists matter, and the question his daughters will one day ask.
Produced by Critical Productions. Learn more at responsiblerawmaterials.com
15 Oct 2026
From Rocks to Careers: Changing Perceptions of the Minerals Industry with Suzie Doe and Minerals Matter
What happens when a geologist’s daughter grows up, ignores the rocks, and then finds herself championing the very industry she once overlooked?
In this episode, Susie - affectionately known as “Minerals Mum” - joins us to explore her journey from product design and teaching into the world of minerals, geology and extractives.
Growing up in Cornwall with a geologist for a dad, Susie was surrounded by rocks and mining heritage, but it took a different career path and a passion for education to bring her back to the sector.
Now, through Minerals Matter, she is working to change perceptions of the minerals industry and inspire the next generation. We talk about taking geology and mining into schools, the importance of field trips and teacher engagement, the huge range of careers within the sector, and why young people need to understand just how much modern life depends on minerals.
Susie also shares the challenges facing the industry, from an ageing workforce and skills shortages to misconceptions about mining, and the exciting opportunities emerging as Cornwall’s minerals sector embraces new technologies and projects.
From STEM fairs and school visits to encouraging more women into the industry, this is a conversation about awareness, passion, collaboration and creating that first spark of curiosity.
And yes, there’s plenty of talk about rocks along the way.
Produced by Critical Productions. Sponsored by Satarla. Learn more at responsiblerawmaterials.com
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Tim Law
Michael Barron
David Strang
Melody McNeil
John Thompson
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