Critical Productions collaborated with Satarla, Impact Creation Leads of the EU Horizon and UKRI funded VECTOR Project to document a live study of public perceptions of the use of raw materials. In this documentary, 100 volunteers were invited from a cross-section of society to the Natural History Museum, London to analyse and understand the general public’s knowledge of raw materials and their opinions of where they should come from. Participants were asked to respond to a series of statements at the beginning and end of the study, having participated in a series of educational activities about raw materials in-between. Watch the documentary to find out how 100 people’s perceptions may change over the study.

Read more about the details of the study, the making of the documentary, as well related resources.

Legacy is Critical Productions’ first documentary series, exploring how the actions taken in mining today can shape a positive legacy for the future, and how the industry itself continues to be defined by the legacies of its past.

The first two episodes were filmed in Namibia following the 2024 Society of Economic Geologists Conference. We set out to understand what natural resources mean for the country today. With only a few days on the ground, we were struck by how deeply mining has influenced Namibia’s culture and identity.

The film was fully funded by Critical Productions’ partner, Satarla, and we extend our thanks to B2Gold for their support with logistics and access to site. Special thanks also go to Hein at Skeleta Tours, who organised all of our travel and filming while in-country. We are also grateful to the Society of Economic Geologists for helping to connect us with people following the conference, and to everyone we met and spoke to, all of whom were open, generous, and incredibly friendly.

Critical Productions is looking forward to share the real and complex story behind raw materials in Portugal in our upcoming documentary Mining the Human Story: Portugal.