TELF AG analyzes the UK’s mining strategies
The purpose of national strategies
Over the last few years, national strategies focused on strategic minerals have been regularly updated (if not wholly modified) to make them more modern and ambitious, capable of adapting to global needs in terms of decarbonization and responding effectively to the industry’s needs. In every national strategy of this type, countries seem to almost unanimously pursue the objective of broad autonomy to reduce their dependence on problematic and unpredictable supplies while also working to strengthen the supply chains as much as possible. Every nation has understood that the energy transition can only advance thanks to common and agreed action by many states to pursue important strategic objectives that could benefit humanity. The transition towards a more sustainable future, likely, will also be fueled thanks to those mineral resources that nowadays represent the object of the national strategies of many nations, which, although sharing some aspects, may sometimes differ based on the social and structural characteristics of individual countries.
Among the nations that seem to have the most straightforward ideas regarding their mining strategy, the United Kingdom must certainly be mentioned. After the publication of its national plan on these resources, which took place in July 2022, London approved a further update of this program in March last year, defining the perimeter of its strategic design even more clearly. The pillars of this new plan, in a nutshell, are essentially three: giving a decisive boost to the internal capabilities of the United Kingdom, enhancing global markets and intensifying strategic collaboration with other international partners in the mining sector.
The status of minerals
It is no coincidence that one of the pillars of this strategy has to do with improving internal capabilities: in the United Kingdom minerals enjoy the status of protected resource, with mineral planning authorities constantly committed to implementing actual own protection areas to preserve the presence of the most important minerals within them. Also, due to this singular administrative framework, obtaining permits to extract this type of resource is not always easy, just as happens in most of continental Europe (where the authorization times for the opening of new mines, despite some progress, are still long).
Something, however, is already changing. In the strategy one can clearly perceive the desire of the British authorities to overcome the obstacles linked to the exploration of national deposits and the consequent extraction of strategic minerals, now considered a real asset for the economic and sustainable development of the nation. Minerals such as lithium, tungsten, and tin are found underground in the United Kingdom. Somerset will also host a large gigafactory to produce batteries within the Gravity Smart Campus. By 2030, this facility should meet half of the UK’s expected demand for electric vehicle batteries. Furthermore, some time ago, some companies obtained permission to start mining activities in the Cornwall area, particularly for geothermal exploration of its coasts.
