POLKOWICE (Poland), April 3 -- Thousands of metres beneath the ground, amid suffocating heat, lies one of the keys to Poland's rumbling mining sector - and the world economy.

Whitish ore, rich in copper and silver, is extracted from the country's depths and exported around the world to fuel technological and energy transitions.

"These are the metals of the future," Ariel Wojciuszkiewicz, a geologist at the Polkowice-Sieroszowice mine in the west of the country, tells AFP, noting that copper and silver are "indispensable for electronic equipment, electric cars, and renewable energy installations".

Driven by the rise of artificial intelligence, renewable energies, and global defence needs, demand for these metals is expected to keep incr...