Thank you for playing! Actually the materials can be used, but I didn't make it clear at all due to time constraints. Once you collect the raw materials, the gerbil wheel is used to process them, and after running on the wheel for a bit, you'll hear a bell sound, which tells the player that the processing is complete, and those materials are converted to missle and laser ammo, mech speed and mech health. Although I realize that I never implemented running out of ammo, along with other things.