Hello SwordyNate!
The bizarre character to whom the items refer is the Water Valley trader introduced in version 1.1.0. In short, in that town, there was a seemingly useless stand (the one near Driel's tent for short). Once you land in the desert, however, you can trade these minerals in exchange for special items. There is an NPC in Warmdune City who also has a kinship with this character, which we can take as a kind of hint to go back and check. :)
As for the story concerning Goldoasis City, it's "only" a dark and gloomy story, but that could be deepened in the last story arc, or why not, in more... :)