The starting point for the essayistic experimental documentary film is the small mining town of Chiatura, in west Georgia. The film closely follows the raw material of Manganese, extracted on site through all the stages of processing and distribution, drawing connections with other spaces and temporalities. The film figures manganese as the foundation for different modes of production binding cultural, extractive and arms industries together and powering technological advancements. These shared foundations link this peripheral site to a vast network of things, places and processes across the globe, feeding into current forms of conflicts.