Metal

The only United States mine for magnesium carbonate has been operating continuously since the 1930s.

A place to appreciate the sweat and ingenuity it used to take to make a pot.

These conical kilns measure an impressive 30 feet in diameter, and were once used to produce charcoal for a local blast furnace.

A monument commemorating the antimony mine that once operated in this Melbourne suburb.

Dozens of large steel sculptures fill this two-acre park outside a former blacksmith's studio.

The Paul Bunyan of the steel industry.

The remains of a massive blast furnace in what was once one of the country's largest iron-producing regions.

Nicknamed the "Grand Canyon of the North," this open-pit mine in Minnesota has a much shorter history.

This friendly fellow was built to honor an advancement in mineral processing.

The precious-metals strikes dating back to the 1860s are now mostly inactive, but this area has become the United States' only domestic source of lithium.

An abandoned mine serves as a stark memorial of when mercury was a valued strategic metal.

Only the headframes remain from this mining operation, once one of the largest in the region.

Scrap material from around Eritrea finds a new life at this outdoor market, where upcycling is a lifestyle.

The remains of a foundry and old blast furnaces destroyed during the Civil War are preserved in this central Alabama park.