You play a mining giant who just want to earn a living. To earn this living, you send out probes around the globe (sprinkle them around - but watch it, they cost a bit) which detect the presence of valuable minerals. They will grow in size when they pass a vein.

You now know where you should blow up the earth - don't be stingy with the explosives (they're not so expensive). You'll need a fair bit to get to the core. With luck, you'll to uncover the red goodness.

Once you have unearthed some treasure, deploy a mine (careful, it's a bit pricy all this digging) to retrieve the goods and earn your coin while tilling the earth bare!

[UPDATE: I spent a bit of time after the comp tweaking things in the "improved" version: you're punished by your shareholders if you blow up non-mineral-producing earth, you can mine the ocean now with (expensive) oil rigs, and I added some polar ice caps... just for fun]