I'll have to watch the program,
before I strongly disagree. In the meantime, I'll just disagree. The science of Metalurgy is far advanced than from even a hundred years ago. We make metals and alloys that would have amazed the alchemists. Aluminum was unknown until 1807, and when first isolated, was worth more than gold. (That's why it was used to cap the Washington Monument.) Molybdenum was called Molly-be-damned by miners until it was discovered that it could make steel stronger and lighter. We separate metals from ore far more efficently that the old timers did.
I have found the History Channel, and especially some of the experts on their shows, as highly sensational in their declarations.