Industries need certain resources such as raw materials, machines, and electricity, to run the machines which can them make their products. In the age of coal and iron, the industrialization of a country depended on the availability of raw materials.
Raw materials are the basis of industrial transformation. Materials have different origins which may be vegetable (such as flax, cotton, and rubber), animal (e.g. wool and silk) or mineral, the source of most common industrial materials.
The most important minerals are bauxite, zinc, copper, iron, phosphates, gold, steel, sulphuric acid, cement.
Minerals are used for producing different type of things:
- Bauxite: used in the aviation industry for the construction of wings and also in the food industry for wrapping food and for protecting it from heat.
- Zinc: it is used for galvanising (protecting it from oxidising) iron and steel.
- Copper: used in electric Resources, especially conductors and cables.
- Phosphates: also used for making detergents for cleaning kitchens and washing-up.
- Iron: used for making alloys (mixture of metals) and strong tools for industrial and domestic use.
- Gold: this is used in the covering of coins and d in aeronautical engineering, but mainly in jewellery for commercial sales.
- Lead: toxic effects of X-Rays and radiation.
- Steel: this is very important for the construction.)
- Sulphuric acid: it helps to make fertilisers and compost that stimulate the growth of crops.
- Cement: this is fundamental to the construction industry buildings.
| Raw Resources | Producing Countries |
| Bauxite (Aluminium) | Australia |
| Zinc | Canada, Austria, Russia |
| Copper | Chile, USA, Canada |
| Phosphates | USA, Russia, Morocco |
| Iron | Brazil, China, Australia |
| Gold | South Africa, USA, Russia |
| Lead | Australia, USA, Russia |
| Steel | Japan, USA, Russia |
| Sulphuric Acid | USA, Japan, China |
| Cement | China, Japan, Russian Federation |
When industrialisation began, about 200 years ago, the transport system was very poor. There were no lorries or trains, no motorways or railways. Raw materials were heavy and expensive to move, so most early industries grew up on coalfields where iron or were found nearby. Nowadays that most of mineral such as iron ore had run out, and the raw materials are brought in from abroad by sea, these factories are changed to near important ports.