Hi,
I actually watched a really interesting documentary called the secrets of the super elements (wow that one sentence makes me sound incrediblly boring hahaha) it was really interesting though, it focused on some of the natural resources/elements we all use on a daily basis, that we rely on and take for granted, but that in fact are really rare and that we only have a very limited supply of on our own planet. Interestingly it wasn’t about what you might think i.e Oil, gas etc, but actually focused on what it described as the new super elements, elements which are needed to make things like computer chips, even an element which is used in the production of touch screens , the documentary suggests that some of these elements we may only have as little as a twenty years supply of. I’m not a scientist so not sure how true all of these claims are, but the end of the documentary suggests that if we want to keep enjoying a lot of the luxuries we enjoy and take for granted today, like cheap air travel, smart phones and much more that the answer probably lies in the stars, with big bucks to be made for which ever companies or government agency can lay claim to, with things like other planets and meteoroids potentially holding a wealth of these super elements , along with other elements yet undiscovered which might push the boundaries of science even further. I think it was a BBC documentary (although not 100% sure on that), but its also on YouTube if anyone is interested the link is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-aPwGflqlA
Paul lemm