With various trends unfolding at different spatial and temporal scales, the extractive industries are increasingly influential in changing patterns of land use, social relationships, local economies ad community identities in rural regions. While agriculture has been seen as as the essence of rural areas and changes in that sector have been integral to the structural change in northern economies and societies, suitably endowed rural areas could be the emerging industrial resources, notably construction materials such as sand, aggregates and stone; industrial minerals such as salts, rare earth elements and phosphate; metals such as iron ore, gold copper and zinc; and energy sources such as coal, oil and gas (collectively termed 'mining') and emerging issues for rural studies.