The resources that humans depend upon must either be mined or grown. According to one estimate, each human will use more than three million pounds of rocks, minerals, and metals over a lifetime. It takes minerals from all over the world just to make a smartphone!
The different properties of minerals (hardness, malleability, color, conductivity and many more) make minerals useful in an incredible number of ways. Living things, for example, depend upon minerals for their survival. Humans use rocks and minerals as raw materials for manufacturing a wide variety of products, for building structures and roads, enriching soil, and much else.
For more information on the importance of minerals, visit the Resources page.