All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S11E08.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

[narrator]
They're watching you.

More than 6,000 satellites
circle the Earth.

Every day, they uncover new,
mysterious phenomena

that defy explanation.

From the skies,

the $37 billion
treasure trove.

There are so many structures
with so many secrets told.

[narrator]
The 500,000
square mile cipher.

These markings can explain
one of the deadliest periods
in human history.

[narrator] And the lost city
of the ancient super warriors.

There are all kinds
of artifacts

pointing to the fact
that this belonged
to Alexander the Great.

[narrator] Baffling phenomena.
Mysteries from space.

What on Earth are they?

[theme music playing]

February 13th, 2022.

Northeast Poland.

Alex Ritchie is trekking
through this frozen landscape,

drawn by codes
captured from the skies.

[Ritchie] It's
very difficult to imagine

what they would be
out here in the middle of a--

of a dense
and very remote forest.

[narrator] A laser scan
of a nearby patch of woodland

has exposed these markings
hidden beneath the tree line.

[Walters] What the lidar
has uncovered,

is a series of these huge
zigzagging patterns

that appear to be carved
right into the landscape.

[Janulis] It's an odd-looking
collage of lines.

It almost looks like
an abstract painting.

[narrator]
Further analysis reveals

the strange shapes
cover an area

of one square mile.

[Janulis] The more you look,
the more you see.

So what seems
to be going on here

is more than
just some zigzags.

[narrator] Ritchie moves
deep into the forest,

heading for
the image coordinates.

Well, the lidar
has brought me to this place.

And, well, there is a lot
of undergrowth.

This is a--
clearly the foundation
of some sort of building.

[narrator] A few
hundred feet away,
sits another structure.

One that appears to serve
a defensive purpose.

Oh, my goodness.

Look at this.

Gigantic...concrete structure.

The walls must be
ten feet thick, if not more.

What's so amazing is,
as I look around, you can see

that there are more than one
of these strange structures

in this forest.

And they're just massive.

[narrator] In total,
Ritchie finds

over 200 similar structures
littering the forest.

Etched into one of them
is a warning.

Here's our clue.

[reading German]

[In English] Which means,

unauthorized personnel
are not allowed to go in.

[narrator] The aerial image
has uncovered the remains

of what appears to be
a vast Nazi compound,

swallowed by time.

It's just extraordinary
what remains on this site.

What was this huge complex
hidden in the forest?

[narrator] Experts turn
to declassify Nazi files.

They reveal
something extraordinary.

The critical turning point
in German history

occurs at this complex.

[Janulis] These bunkers
were the headquarters

of the German Army
High Command.

This is where they
coordinated and planned

the invasion of Russia.

[narrator] In 1939,

Hitler forms an uneasy pact
with Joseph Stalin

to ensure that
he will not interfere

with his planned assault
on Poland.

But the following year
he betrays his ally

and issues an order
to invade Russia.

Codenamed
Operation Barbarossa.

[Auerbach] This was not
meant simply to weaken
the Soviet Union.

But to remove the threat

posed by, for all time.

[narrator] In the run up
to the invasion,

Hitler constructs the complex
in the image

for 40 of his top generals

and 1,500 officers
and soldiers.

[Ritchie] So,
this was a huge complex.

Like a spider web of power

for the running
of the eastern front.

[narrator] In June, 1941.

Three million Nazi troops

and hundreds and thousands
of vehicles and planes

sweep into Russia.

The largest, most powerful
invasion force in history.

[Cavell] They were hoping
the Soviet military
would fail.

And fall within
ten weeks or less.

But they didn't.

[Auerbach] They
miscalculated in one
very, very important way,

which is that Russia's
never gonna run out
of three things.

Land, cold and guys.

[narrator] Fierce
Soviet resistance

stalls the German advance
towards Moscow.

And by November, 1941,

730,000 German soldiers

lie dead in the sleet and snow
of the eastern front.

[Janulis] Operation Barbarossa

was one of the most
horrific campaigns
inhuman history.

Both, for the attackers
and the defenders.

[gunfire]

[narrator] The Nazi's failure

to swiftly overrun
the Red army
infuriates Hitler

Who takes personal control
of the operations
at the site in the image.

But the slaughter continues.

Culminating with the Nazis'
surrender at Stalingrad.

A siege which leaves
a further half a million
German soldiers dead.

With the loss at Stalingrad,

Germany loses
all of its forward momentum.

From that moment
until the bitter end,

Germany is retreating
and defending.

[Janulis] It was a war
o attrition.

It chewed up
the German army
and spat it out.

Basically, Hitler blew
everything he had

trying to take a country
that wouldn't give up.

[narrator] The site
in the image

is where Hitler makes
his greatest tactical error.

One that ultimately
costs him the war.

Yet, as Ritchie
continues to explore,

she discovers
it's dark secrets
don't end there.

Oh, my goodness.

Now, that's amazing.

It's some sort of shaft
but I can see

that it leads
to a huge chamber,
by the looks of it.

[narrator] The Nazi base,
it appears,

sits on top of a man-made
subterranean world.

It's as if there's a whole
underground city here.

What was it doing
in this forest

in the middle of nowhere?

[narrator] Coming up...

The hunt for Hitler's gold.

[Janulis] We've only
scratched the surface

of what the Germans
were up to out here.

[narrator] And terror rises
from the wastelands.

If you don't get treatment,

you die.

[narrator] Lured by
strange markings
in a remote Polish forest,

Alex Ritchie has discovered
a vast secret base

used by Hitler for his
failed invasion of Russia.

It is littered with hidden
chambers and tunnels.

This is not just a city
that was built overground.

It was also built underground.

It's not unusual
for Nazi bunkers to have
underground areas,

but the scale
of these underground chambers

is massive.

Why did they need them?

[narrator] Ritchie speculates
the chambers could have played

a part in the looting
that took place

during Hitler's battles
with Stalin.

[Ritchie] The Nazis
were greatest looters
or arts and artifacts

that the world has ever seen.

And it has always
been a mystery as to
what treasures were kept.

[narrator] During the Nazis
retreat from Russia,

they returned with over
one million pieces
of art and other treasures.

Pillaged from estates
and museums.

Even today, $37 billion
worth of their wartime heist

remains unrecovered.

One of the major treasures
that we know the Germans stole

was something called
the Amber Room,

from the royal palace
in St. Petersburg.

This thing was ridiculous.

It was known
as the eighth
wonder of the world.

[Auerbach]
The Amber Room is one
of innumerable treasures

looted by the Germans.

The ultimate fate
of which is unknown.

[narrator] A gift
from a Prussian king
to Tzar Peter the Great,

the room's panels are inlaid

with over six tons
of amber, gold, silver
and precious gems.

[Morgan] It is reported,
when you entered the room,

it had this
breathtaking quality.

It had a means
of dazzling people.

Um, and that's why
it was something
that was fit for a king.

[narrator] The Nazis dismantle
the Amber Room in 1941,

and ship it toward the site
in the image

before it disappears
from history.

There's a personal account,
indicating that
a number of trucks

carrying an unidentified cargo

made their way
to this bunker complex.

And that they were
quickly unloaded.

And the belief is that

maybe the Amber Room
can still be found there,
to this day.

[Ritchie] This is a really
remote and dense forest.

It would be an ideal place
to hide something.

[narrator] The role
this complex and its
hidden chambers

played in the looting
of Russia

remains to be discovered.

As Ritchie continues
to explore the area,

she finds
another mysterious relic
of the Nazis' time here.

Oh, my goodness.

Wow.

Now that is something
I did not expect.

It's a huge,
huge concrete structure.

And yet, what's very strange
is that the bottom

is a kind of canal
with water in it.

[narrator] Nazi record reveal
the giant structure

is a lock, sitting on
what's known
as the Masurian Canal.

[Auerbach] The Masurian Canal
was started in 1911.

When this are was still part
of the German Empire.

The goal was to bring
trade and prosperity
to this remote outpost.

[narrator] The advent
of World War I

brings construction
of the canal
to a halt in 1914.

But two decades later,

work resumes
under the command of Hitler.

His aim is to connect
the giant lock in the woods

to a nearby river
and onwards to the Baltic Sea.

This canal represents,
basically, a naval gateway

to anywhere you wanna be
in the world.

Why were the Germans
building such a large
canal system here?

[narrator]
The canal's proximity
to the Nazi command center

fuels speculation that it may
have served a clandestine

and highly
controversial purpose.

We know many of the Nazis,

particularly
high-ranking ones,

were planning escape routes

at the end of the war.

They could read
the writing on the wall.

[narrator] During
the closing stages
of World War II,

Nazi officials
find themselves trapped

between advancing Allied
and Russian forces.

Fearing bloody retribution
for their war crimes,

many looked to sympathetic
nations for protection.

To be captured by the Red army

was almost a guarantee
that you would be killed.

So there was definitely
a sense of rats
fleeing a sinking ship.

[narrator] The canal,
when completed,

would provide a naval route

from the Nazi complex
to the Atlantic Ocean,
and beyond.

This plan, if true,
would have seen Nazi officials
escape from this region

out to the Baltic,
and all the way
to South America.

[Janulis] Perhaps,
this canal system was plan B,

for this base.

Make your last stand there.

But if everything goes wrong,

you have an escape route.

[narrator] Today,
much of this giant complex

and its subterranean chambers

remain unexplored.

Their contents, a mystery.

Eight decades
after the war ended

it is an enigma
revealed from the skies,

waiting to be decoded.

[Ritchie] There are
so many structures
in the forest

with so many secrets
still to tell.

[Janulis] This discovery
is showing us,

That we've only
scratched the surface

of what the Germans
were up to out here.

[narrator] Coming up...

The mystery
ancient mega plague.

Many historians say
that this would have been

the worst time
in human history
to be alive.

[narrator] And a secret
rises from the sands.

[Horton] This is
a highly significant location.

Because this was
the cradle of civilization.

[narrator] October 9th, 2018.

A satellite
flying over Asia,

scans the seemingly
featureless plains

of Southern Kazakhstan.

And captures this image.

[Munoz] The thing
that draws me eye

are these random pitting
or scarring marks

on the landscape.

And there doesn't really
seem to be any rhyme
or reason to them.

The little, kind of,
radiating star shapes,

hundreds, thousands,
tens of thousands of them,

they're just bizarre.

[narrator] Scientists
estimate the mystery pattern

covers half a million
square miles.

And area three times
the size of California.

And the mystery
of this giant desert code

doesn't end there.

Here's where it gets
really weird.

Locals who have gone
near this area,

report these apple
or egg-sized lumps

in their groins
or in their neck.

[Kays] Apparently,
these are pretty serious,

and if you don't get treated,
you can die
in a couple of days.

[narrator] Tests reveal
the victim succumbed

to one of the most
feared diseases on Earth.

One, that by some estimates,

has killed
five times as many people

as the ravages
of World War II.

[Ruben] Strangely enough,
these markings

can help to explain
one of the deadliest periods
in human history.

The Bubonic Plague.

Also known as
the Black Death.

[rats squeaking]

[narrator] In 1347 CE,

the inhabitants
of Eastern Europe

begin suffering
from mysterious ailments

and pustulating
skin conditions.

[woman coughing]

Within five years,

25 million people are dead.

Almost one-third
of Europe's population.

[Rice] The bubonic plague
burned through Europe,

causing suffering and death

on a truly unimaginable scale.

[Anthony] No one knew
where it came from,

or how it spread.

You couldn't treat it.

Many historians
say that this would have been

the worst time
in human history to be alive.

[narrator]
Devastated survivors

irrationally blamed
the disease on gypsies,

witches, or Jewish people.

Thousands are tortured
and burned to death.

It's not until the turn
of the 20th century

that scientists identified
the real culprit.

A bacteria carried by
infected fleas.

Rats carry fleas.

And the theory was
that when plague
infects fleas,

the fleas can bite humans,
transmitting the disease.

And more rats leads
to outbreak
like the Black Death.

But there's a problem
with this theory.

The latest research
suggest that

14th century outbreaks
of plague

did not correspond
to increases
in rat population.

So something else must have
triggered these outbreaks.

[narrator] Some scientists
now think another animal

is to blame
for the mass death.

One that makes it home
in the vast steps
of Kazakhstan.

This unusual pattern
that we see

is actually caused by gerbils.

As they create their burrows

they kill all the plant life
above it.

And that leaves these
big patches of barren earth

that reflect really well
in satellite images.

[narrator] Known
as great gerbils.

These rodents grow
to around one foot in length

and live in family groups.

Numbering in their millions,

a three acre patch of desert

can contain
over 1,000 burrows,

creating vast patterns
visible from space.

Gerbils, as cute as they are,

can also be the unwitting host
of Yersinia pestis,

the bacteria that caused
the Black Death.

[narrator] Scholars believe
that Yersinia pestis

originated in this part
of the world

some 6,000 years ago.

It persists in the guts
of gerbil fleas for centuries.

In the middle ages,
this festering, biological
time bomb explodes

when the plague-carrying
insects hitch
a ride westwards.

[camel grunting]

[Anthony] It seems
as though fleas
from these gerbils

were able to attach themselves
to Mongols and their camels

traveling along the Silk Road
into Europe.

And that might have been
the true source of the plague.

[narrator] What's more...

Fluctuations
in the gerbil populations

help explain why so many
waves of the Black Death

swept west during
the 14th century.

[Kays] Scientists looked
at weather patterns

that drive gerbil boom
birth cycles.

And what's amazing is
those synced up with

really bad outbreaks
of bubonic plague in Europe.

[narrator]
In the late middle ages,

advances in hygiene
and medicine

suppressed the plague
in Europe.

In the 1940s,

Soviet authorities try
a very different approach

to eliminating
the disease in Kazakhstan.

They declare war
on the gerbil.

[Rice] They were spraying
the burrows with DDT.

They were burning the lands
so the gerbil would
have nothing to eat.

The Soviet Union
was so hell bent
on eradicating the plague,

that it actually conscripted
thousands of civilians

to take spoonfuls of grain
tainted with poison

and pour them into
these little burrow holes,

in an attempt to kill off
the entire gerbil population.

It wasn't a bad idea
but it didn't work.

The gerbils soon came back
and brought the plague
right back with them.

Because of gerbil populations
like the one in this image,

the plague is endemic
to 40 percent of the area
of Kazakhstan.

[narrator] Today,
with the plague still
so widespread in Kazakhstan,

images such as this
play a key role

in predicting
when the next outbreak
may erupt from these lands.

Because the gerbil burrows
have this recognizable,
pale, star shape,

our approach
for controlling them
could be much more targeted.

[narrator] Death it transpires
has many different faces.

[Kays] It's really amazing
that this disease,

which has been
so important
in human history...

That now we can manage it
by watching gerbils
from space.

[narrator] Coming up...

A secret site that helped
change the world.

It becomes the largest
single industry

the world has ever seen.

[narrator] And the city
built on bones.

[Chamberlain] This is just
incredible to think

that this entire city

might have been lost
to history forever.

[narrator] June 12th, 2019.

An aerial survey
of the Arizona desert

captures this image.

[Walters] This is a rugged,
mountainous desert.

And then there's this
perfect, elongated, oval

etched into the terrain.

[Kourounis]
And within that oval
there are other weird shapes.

Including what almost
looks like a figure eight

and a few small buildings.

It's the shapes
that really get me.

[narrator] Analysis reveals
the shapes appeared

to be fashioned
from asphalt or concrete.

In total, some 20 miles
of these roads to nowhere

crisscross
the isolated facility.

This is inaccessible,
very rugged terrain.

And yet, clearly,
a lot of effort
has gone into building this.

Why would you do that?

[narrator] The compounds
location could offer a clue.

One really interesting fact
about this particular image

is that it's not very far
from the Yuma
Proving Ground.

[narrator] The Yuma
Proving Ground

is one of the largest
military test sites on Earth.

A 1,300 square mile laboratory

for testing all most every
piece of equipment

in the US arsenal.

A proving ground is just that.

It's a place where you
test new things.

The Yuma Proving Ground

has the longest overland
artillery range

in the entire United States.

And the most well-equipped
helicopter weapons
test range imaginable.

[narrator] During tests
at Yuma,

troops unleash around
half a million
munitions a year.

[gun firing]

And drive prototype vehicles
over 200,000 miles.

These roadways
within this perimeter

could be used to test
things like tanks

and other kinds
of all-terrain vehicles.

[narrator] However,
others think this site doesn't
serve a military purpose.

If you wanted to really test
how rugged your vehicle is,

why would you pave
so many of the roads

in your proving grounds?

Proving grounds aren't just
operated by the military.

You also have
civilian industries

that need these secure
and private locations

to put new products
to the test.

I think that
this Arizona facility

is the Chrysler
Proving Grounds.

[narrator]
The secretive facility

has its origins
in the aftermath
of World War II.

As peace returns to the US,

millions of households
go on a spending spree.

In the wake of World War II

there is an explosion
in car ownership.

[Kourounis]
Americans fell in love.

It was all about
how the automobile

represented prosperity
and freedom.

[narrator] Between 1946
and 1955,

US car production quadruples.

The 1944 Highway Act

also authorizes
the construction

of 40,000 miles of roads.

Replacing rough tracks
with paved arteries
connected the nation.

You had all
this infrastructure popping up

that could support that.

We see the advent
of drive-thru restaurants,

drive-in movie theaters.

[Kerley] There is this entire
post world culture

that's really built around
the car and mobility

And it becomes really a part
of the American life.

[Auerbach]
The automotive industry
doesn't just become

the largest industry
in America.

It becomes the largest,
single industry

the world has ever seen.

[narrator] The post war
economic boom

also fuels an explosion

in the number of people
taking vacations.

[narrator] In the 1950s

more than 80 percent
of such travel
is taken by car.

With each trip averaging
600 miles.

Trips which test these new
generation of vehicles

to the point of destruction.

It's one thing to build a car

or anything, for that matter,
on paper.

It's another thing entirely
to take it out
in the real world

driven by real people.

[narrator] During the '50s,

America's car makers
construct several sites

like the Chrysler
Proving Ground

to road test
their latest models.

The large banked oval tracks,

they're typically used
for speed testing.

Then in the middle
there's a grid.

Now that simulates
a city traffic system.

And then there's also access
to steep grade mountain roads.

Cars were driven endlessly

around these tracks
to evaluate every component

to make sure that it was able
to withstand the stress.

[narrator] Before selling
the site in 2006,

Chrysler uses
the proving ground

to put countless
classic cars
through their paces.

Cars that go on to define
the lives and adventures

of generation of Americans.

These testing facilities
were indispensable

for producing the cars
that you and I enjoy today.

[narrator] Coming up...

A mystery rises
from the desert.

Whatever it is,
it's been there
for a long time.

[narrator] And
a toxic time bomb.

The word apocalyptic
comes to mind.

[narrator] In 1959,

the first of 120 Corona
spy satellites

takes to the skies.

Over the next decade
they capture images

of more than one
and half million square miles

of the Earth's surface.

For today's historians,

these declassified images

are an archaeological
treasure trove.

They capture imagery of sites
that have long since
been covered over.

And changed
beyond recognition.

Some of these sites have been
built on since the '60s.

And so these images give us
a snapshot back in time

of what the area
would have looked like.

[narrator] When analysts study
a 1966 Corona photograph

of Northern Iraq,

they discover
something not visible

in modern satellite images.

My eye is drawn immediately
to the enormous

rectilinear structure
in the center of it.

[Ruben] It has thick walls.

It looks like
it's defensive in nature.

Like a fort.

Whatever it is,
it's been there
for a long time.

[narrator] The location
of the mystery structure
intrigues analysts.

It sits inside this so called
Fertile Crescent.

A vast middle eastern region
which was home

to some of the earliest
civilizations
in human history.

[Horton] This is a highly
significant location.

Because it was
the Cradle of Civilization.

And the place where
urbanism really develops.

[Janulis] This landscape
is incredibly,
historically rich.

Almost everybody has conquered
or have come through here.

[narrator] When archaeologists
deployed drones
to study this site,

they discover an array
of structures,

including a temple
and other
monumental buildings.

[Chamberlain]
When the drones go in,

they find it's not just
this one, big fortress.

There are other buildings.

This looks like a large,
ancient city.

[Ruben] What we're
looking at is clearly
a complex settlement

belonging to someone
with power.

[narrator] The lost city
covers an area

equivalent to
100 football fields.

Excavations suggest
it was constructed

around two and a half
thousand years ago,

by order of the greatest
warrior in history.

There are all kinds
of artifacts
that are pointing to the fact

that this belonged
to Alexander the Great.

[narrator] Born in 356 BCE,

Alexander becomes the kind
of Macedonia at the age of 20.

Before embarking on a campaign
of conquest without parallel.

Alexander was perhaps
one of the most unique

conquerors in history.

His tutor was Aristotle,
who made his mind razor sharp.

No one was better suited
to conquer the world
than Alexander the Great.

[yelling]

[narrator] Deploying
revolutionary military tactics

such as the phalanx,

within five years,
his forces had vanquished

Greece, egypt and Turkey.

Alexander is just
crushing his competitors.

He is dominating
the known world,

except for this one
other land.

Persia, run
by Darius the Third.

[narrator] In 331,

Alexander's 50,000 strong army

advances through the region
in the image

before attacking the Persians
at the battle of Gaugamela.

[horses neighing]

Deploying fast strike
cavalry charges,

his soldiers overcome
Darius' forces

despite being outnumbered
five to one.

Alexander the Great
was a military genius.

He didn't rely on numbers
to win wars.

He relied on tactics
and strategy.

[Ruben] It's because
of victories like this

that Alexander is known
as Alexander the Great.

[narrator] Alexander
goes on to conquer

a two million
square mile empire

and remains
undefeated in battle.

The lost city appears
to have been built

to ensure his exploits
aren't just recorded
on the battlefields

but are also immortalized
in stone.

One of the ways that Alexander
made his mark on

and held the lands
that he conquered

was by building
vast cities there.

Maybe this city was founded

to celebrate the victory
in Gaugamela.

[narrator] The fort discovered
in the satellite image

guards a military route
into the Persian empire.

It's also a reminder
to his new subjects

of Alexander's crushing
defeat of their leader.

[Chamberlain]
To consolidate the victory,

he builds a city to say,

"Guess what? You are now
part of my empire.

Look at me. I'm great."

[narrator] Over the following
millennia,

Alexander's city is swallowed
by the sands.

Only to be revealed once more
from the skies.

[Chamberlain] This is
just incredible to think

that now
that we have this image,

it's exposed this entire city

that might have been
lost to history forever.

[narrator] Coming up...

The mystery mega wound.

We have seen this unusual
spike in illnesses

amongst the people
that live there.

[narrator] May 26th, 2020.

A satellite above
the Caribbean island
of Jamaica

photographs something bizarre.

Here we are
in an enormous rain forest.

Right in the middle
we have this desolate,
red patch.

[Kourounis]
The word apocalyptic
comes to mind

as if it's a giant scar
across the landscape.

[narrator] The red stain
spreads over one square mile.

[McRobbie]
If you look even closer,

you can see
that the Earth is,

sort of, pockmarked
with these regular circles.

[Okereke] There are dozens
of these circles

and they're spread out
in these clear rows.

It's really odd.

[narrator] Geologist
Devin Dennie

discovers disturbing
local reports

that could offer a clue.

One thing
we have seen lately

is this unusual spike
in illnesses

amongst the people
that live there.

[narrator] Since
the appearance
of the red scar,

countless Jamaicans
living nearby

have complained respiratory
illnesses and skin conditions.

This spike of illness
could be coming

from having more
dust in the air.

More red dust.

And that is a sign of what
we may be looking at here

is a bauxite mine.

[narrator] Bauxite
is the main ore used

to produce 65 million tons
of aluminum,

worldwide, each year.

It's also a primary source
of gallium.

A rare earth metal
of vital importance
to tech industries.

For the longest time,
we've used silicon
in our microchips.

But recent studies
have demonstrated

that gallium is more
than a thousand times
more conductive.

[Okereke] This makes
it extremely valuable
for use of electronics.

Which is a market
that's obviously
growing exponentially.

[narrator] Around 367 million
metric tons of bauxite

is mined globally each year.

It's importance to the future
of the tech center

means that one country
is rapidly
expanding its interest

in bauxite mining.

The Chinese government
is desperate to control
the mineral market.

So Beijing has been pouring
billions of dollars
into poorer nations

with large, natural deposits
of these materials.

[cheering]

The plan is monopolize
control of rare earth minerals

and not only is that
a good economic plan,

but it would give China
a tremendous amount
of global power.

[narrator] Over
the past decade,

China has launched
a trillion dollar
global development fund.

Of that, Jamaican authorities
accept $300 million

in exchange for control
of the mine in the image.

What we're seeing from China

is a kind of
modern day colonialism.

Instead of invading
other nations,

Xi Jinping is flexing
his country's economic muscle.

[narrator] Today,

China processes 80 percent
of all rare earth elements.

That provides them with a grip
over the global manufacturing

of anything from smartphones
to fighter jets.

China wants to replace the US

as the next great superpower.

And mines,
like the one in Jamaica,

are part of their plan
to do it.

[narrator] To extract bauxite,

miners strip vast areas
of jungle

before blasting out
the mineral rich rock

and crushing it in piles.

[Dennie] That could also
be some of the features
that we see on the image.

Some of these circles
are actual piles
of crushed bauxite.

[narrator] As well
as releasing vast clouds
of dust into the air,

the mine tailings seep
into the water supply.

In mining when you extract
the material you want,

you also get a lot
of materials you don't want.

And those end up in
separating pools as waste

that can sometimes be toxic.

Many of
the townspeople won't
touch the water anymore.

Those who have
say that it made
the water undrinkable.

[narrator] Globally, air
pollution causes

around five and half million
deaths each year.

The long term health effects
of our tech obsession

on the people of Jamaica
remains to be seen.

[Dennie]
As long as populations
continue to demand

high technology products,

their demand
is going to be there.

For more mines like this one.

This red stain in the heart
of the Jamaican countryside

isn't going anywhere.