A NEW book tracing the dazzling achievements and dark consequences of our ability to extract the earth’s resources has been launched at the Cornwall Museum & Art Gallery in Truro in partnership with Cornish Lithium.

The pioneering mineral exploration and development company was a natural partner for the latest work by award-winning Cornwall-based author Philip Marsden - Under a Metal Sky: A Journey Through Minerals, Greed and Wonder.

Published by Granta, the book presents a fascinating new perspective on European history as well as on our troubled relationship with the natural world.

Since the magical properties of minerals and metals were first discovered, humans have been transformed. Ochre prompted the earliest examples of self-expression and art; tin and copper helped instigate the Bronze Age and later, the Industrial Revolution; silver kickstarted the engines of global trade, and lithium fuels our digital age.

Each of these substances has generated a leap forward in technology and broadened our imaginations, eliciting amazement and wonder, but also destruction and greed.

Under A Metal Sky begins and ends in Cornwall, one of the world's great geological hotspots. It includes a chapter on lithium and features two visits to Cornish Lithium’s geothermal waters pilot plant, established in 2021 at United Downs, near Redruth. Lithium is critically important to the manufacturing of electric vehicles, grid-scale electricity storage, and rechargeable industrial and consumer batteries.

Travelling eastwards into Europe, Philip Marsden examines how the extraction of peat propelled the Netherlands to world prominence but also imperilled its very existence. Continuing up the Rhine into the heart of the continent, he uncovers more stories of potent and tempting resources, from iron-rich meteorites to radium and mercury, and the gold-bearing mountains of Georgia.

As he travels, he explores precious seams of ideas, from science to alchemy, mysticism to ecology – and those questing souls who pursued them, such as Goethe, William Blake and Marie Curie.

“We are moving out of an age in which geopolitics and our world are being shaped by fossil fuels, and moving into an age of metals,” Philip told assembled guests at his book launch.

“This new book is all about discovery and revelation, and how the treasures beneath our feet have transformed us as a species. So much of our thinking about the world has been defined by our use and discovery of metals, and it is still going on.

“What we have discovered under the earth has filled us with wonder but has also made us greedy – the twin effects of discovery – but we have to use it responsibly and celebrate companies like Cornish Lithium and the progress they are making to extract lithium from the granite that lies deep beneath Cornwall in an environmentally-responsible way.”

Cornish Lithium’s ESG & sustainability manager, Lucy Crane, said: “We were delighted to sponsor the launch of Philip’s amazing book. We are as excited to see what the next chapter in mining brings for Cornwall’s future as we are fascinated by delving into the historical context that is revealed within its pages.”