In nature, only a few elements occur in their native form as a single, solid element, not chemically combined with others. Gold, the best known example, is less chemically active than most other elements that exist in solid form. Gold occurs as tiny particles in rocks; as hot water seeps through bedrock, it may carry the gold bits until they accumulate into small nuggets. A few other metals, such as silver and copper, are sometimes found in small standalone amounts in nature. Whether silver, copper, and platinum combine with other elements or remain as native elements depends on their proximity to other chemically active substances. A few nonmetallic elements also may occur in native form. For example, plain sulfur collects around the vents of hot springs and volcanoes, as well as in sedimentary structures like salt domes. In nature, carbon can appear in two different native forms, graphite and diamond, depending on how much heat and pressure have been applied to it.

Through ancient times and the Middle Ages smelting techniques did not change much and improvements were made by using different techniques to forge the steel. The disadvantage was that every object made of iron or steel had to be made one at a time by a blacksmith. Unlike copper and other metals, furnaces could not get hot enough to melt iron so that it could be cast into molds. About 300 years ago, Europeans developed a more efficient blast furnace that used coal instead of wood charcoal to produce cast iron. Being able to cast iron meant that iron and steel products could be mass-produced; this development eventually gave rise to the Industrial Revolution. Today's industries depend on steel, which is an alloy, or solid mixture, of iron with carbon, manganese, and other trace elements. This combination gives the metal additional strength and reduce iron's tendency to rust, or to bond with oxygen in the atmosphere. Another industrially important metal, aluminum, comes from the ore known as bauxite, a mixture of three aluminum oxide minerals. Until the 1880s, when humans learned how to separate the aluminum and oxygen atoms by running electricity through the aluminum oxide, metallic aluminum was extremely difficult to make, and thus more expensive than gold.

Certain rare elements such as beryllium, tantalum, lithium, and yttrium occur in small quantities scattered around the world, rather than in rich mineral veins that are easy to mine. The economic importance of these elements, however, has grown substantially over the past few decades, as scientists and engineers have found new ways to use them. For example, tantalum, found primarily in the mineral tantalite, helps miniaturize the electronic components inside computers, gaming consoles, and cell phones. Lithium powers those portable devices by making batteries last longer. Beryllium, found in more than 100 minerals, goes into lightweight structural components of fighter jets, guided missiles, and spacecraft. When added to diesel fuel, cerium lowers the noxious emissions from trucks. Gallium and indium, two elements that are considered electrical semiconductors, go into light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Yttrium is a key ingredient in medical lasers.

For example, the mineral bastnasite (or bastnaesite), which contains cerium, lanthanum, and yttrium, was discovered in Sweden and occurs. The economic importance of these elements, however, has grown substantially over the past few decades, as scientists have put them into many high-tech devices. Cerium added to diesel fuel helps trucks run with fewer noxious emissions; scandium, alloyed with aluminum and other metals, makes lightweight lacrosse sticks and components for fighter jets; yttrium is a key ingredient in medical lasers.