The British Geological Society (BGS) has produced a report identifying areas of the UK prospective for critical raw materials for the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre (CMIC). 

The BGS has identified large parts of the UK as prospective for critical materials, with the key areas identified as ‘particularly worthy’ of more research being in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, South-West England, and Northern England.

The BGS used a mineral systems approach, which relies on the concept that minerals of a certain type are formed by a combination of particular geological processes. The team identified the geological processes necessary to form CRM deposits and mapped these criteria against the UK’s available datasets, which include maps of the geology, soil and sediment geochemistry, and mineral occurrences.

The national-scale assessment of the geological potential for critical raw materials in the UK represents one of the first steps in the UK Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy, which aims to make the UK more resilient to disruption in critical mineral supply chains by accelerating the growth of domestic capability.

In March 2022, the UK Government announced a Critical Minerals Refresh, aimed at reinforcing its commitment to its Critical Minerals Strategy, as well as highlight progress and set out upcoming delivery milestones.

In Project Blue’s view, while the “refresh” announcement argued that the UK has already made significant progress against the ambitions of the Critical Minerals Strategy, in the wider context of the USA’s Inflation Reduction Act and Europe’s Critical Raw Materials Act, there is a growing urgency for the UK to make things happen.

A refreshed set of milestones – with various action points for 2023 set out against the pillars of the Critical Minerals Strategy – has now been set out, and there are plans to publish a delivery update in 2024 to report on progress, highlight major developments and set out refreshed delivery plans. Much will need to be achieved between now and then if the UK isn’t to fall behind in the critical materials space.  With this in mind, the BGS report is a useful contribution – although the report’s authors stress that identifying an area as prospective does not necessarily mean it will be targeted for exploration and mining.