Shadows of miners are visible on the wall of a mining face more than 1,000 meters underground in the Polkowice–Sieroszowice copper and silver mine in southwestern Poland, owned by KGHM, a metallurgical powerhouse in the country, on March 25, 2026. Thousands of meters beneath the ground, amid suffocating heat, lies one of the keys to Poland's rumbling mining sector -- and the world economy. (Photo by Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP)