Published annually by BGS, the UK Minerals Yearbook provides comprehensive statistical data on the production, consumption and trade of UK minerals. The yearbook includes definitive updates to inform decision makers, the minerals industry and those interested in the contribution of minerals to the national economy.

The UK is an important producer of a range of minerals that are consumed in many sectors of the economy, including construction and industry. In 2023, some 176.3 million tonnes of minerals were extracted from the UK landmass for sale both within the UK and internationally.

After the initial recovery in the mineral sector experienced post-COVID-19 (2022), economic uncertainty and decreased demand from the construction sector in particular resulted in reduced production of most minerals during 2023. One exception to this was a rise in the production of natural gypsum, due to the cessation of coal-fired power generation in the UK and the resultant loss of alternative desulphogypsum production.

In 2023, a further 82.6 million tonnes, consisting mainly of oil and gas (oil equivalent) and marine-dredged sand and gravel, were extracted from the UK Continental Shelf.

Download the UK Minerals Yearbook from the Minerals UK website.

Following the first data release in July 2023, which captured reports from Scotland and the north of England, the (CMIC) has completed scanning all the that are held at BGS. This release includes Wales and the south-west of England.

What is MEIGA?

MEIGA was funded under the former Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through grants for mineral exploration of non-ferrous metals, fluorspar, barium and potash. CMIC is delivering the MEIGA reports in a geographically searchable, online and free-to-access format, making the data accessible for exploration companies to use to help refine areas that could be of interest to them.

The MEIGA reports contain:

• geological mapping
• soil and stream sediment geochemistry data
• geophysical surveys
• drill core logs
• assay data

We are delighted to have this final part of the dataset released publicly, as we believe pre-competitive data is an essential part of the exploration geologist toolkit that can help identify prospective areas for further exploration.

Eimear Deady, BGS Economic Geologist.

What information does the new release contain?

The south-west of England and parts of Wales were identified as areas of interest in a recent report on critical raw material (CRM) prospectivity in the UK (Deady et al., 2023). Many CRMs are the co- and byproducts of base metals and other metals previously explored for and mined across Wales and south-west England.

For example, areas of Wales covered by MEIGA reports may have the potential for CRMs associated with a deposit type known as volcanogenic massive sulfides. These are typically mined for copper but have the potential to also contain CRMs such as indium, tellurium or bismuth. Other deposits in Wales include historic gold deposits, which could contain other CRMs such as tellurium, bismuth or antimony but have not been evaluated using modern analytical methods.

CMIC works closely with the , which funds CMIC, and this data supports the UK Government Critical Minerals Strategy by providing accessible historical information to companies wishing to explore the UK critical mineral potential.

More information

• on the CMIC website
• Find out more about the previous release of reports
• Geological material collected in the 1970s and 1980s is available via BGS through the Core Store booking process and the , where anyone can explore the MEIGA report areas

The hydrogen economy involves using hydrogen to decarbonise economic sectors that are hard to electrify, such as cement, steel and long-haul transport. It can be powered using water, where combustion only releases water vapour into the atmosphere.

UK aims for the hydrogen economy

The UK is currently attempting to expand its hydrogen economy to meet its target of producing 5 GW of green hydrogen capacity by 2030. The scoping report highlights that with 14 GW of capacity already in the pipeline, proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis is assumed to account for 70 per cent of the UK green hydrogen production. This has led to an increase in demand for electrolysers, which are used to produce hydrogen through electrolysis by separating the molecules in water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Unsustainable metal demand projections

The electrolysers in PEM electrolysis tend to use critical materials, namely platinum and iridium, for their cathodes and anodes. Given the targets the UK has set for establishing a hydrogen economy, the report finds that 700 to 2000 kilograms of platinum and 1925 to 5500 kilograms of iridium are required. Under current metal loadings, this is unsustainable and means a heavy reliance on imports from South Africa, which has high concentrations of these metals.

Suggestions to address the materials supply challenges

According to the report, heavy dependency on imports presents supply chain risks and constraints, in addition to potential price volatility and logistical disruption in times of geopolitical crises. However, the report outlines some suggestions to mitigate against these issues, such as:

• collaborations between industry and government
• strategic partnerships with key producing nations to try and diversify and secure supply chains
• technology development to reduce the quantity of materials needed
• identifying less-critical substitutes

Finally, the report identifies recycling as an increasingly important source of metal supply. Iridium would benefit most from this development, as it currently has very little input from open-loop recycling.

Further information

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Specialist alloys are created using minor metals with distinctive properties and are vital for the aerospace and defence industries, where they are sometimes referred to as ‘superalloys’. Their unique properties allow them to improve performance and efficiency and reduce emissions. 

UK superalloy import dependency

Key countries supplying metals used in superalloys include the USA, China, Japan, South Africa and several European countries. The recently released report clearly highlights the UK dependency on imports of minor metals. The report finds that the increase in global demand for certain alloying metals means that some producing countries are likely to prioritise material for the domestic markets, rather than export. In turn, this will lead to the UK to paying increasing prices in the global market, when stable and competitive prices are vital to support the international competitiveness of the UK aerospace and defence industries.

Studies like this one by the Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre that focus on the aerospace industry are essential to better understand the dependency of jobs and infrastructure on global metal supply chains and use of critical metals. Further studies are required to examine opportunities to enhance supply chains and focus technological development on better metal recovery processes.

Stephen Hall, Advanced Alloy Services Limited.

Supply chain risks with the current model

Price increases for alloying metals can be attributed to several factors, including import dependency and the importance that the UK places on responsible sourcing, including compliance with environmental, social and governance standards. Responsible sourcing adds to the price of supply contracts, which in turn increases the cost of the overall material purchase and contributes to supply chain risk.

Geopolitical issues such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict also pose supply chain risks through price volatility and the possibility of supply disruption.

Potential options for mitigating supply chain risk

The report highlights some approaches to reducing supply chain risk for alloying metals. Greater focus on resource diplomacy with key supplying countries could help the UK to make its supply chains more resilient and transparent. Furthermore, recycling the materials that the UK already has in the economy is an important option for reducing costs and demand for primary materials. Recycling reduces the need for virgin materials and generally has a lower environmental impact than supply from mining.

Further information

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Andrew Gordon Gunn – known to all as Gus – has been awarded an MBE in this year Queen Birthday Honours List.

The list recognises the outstanding achievements of people from many disciplines across the UK. Mr Gunn has been bestowed this prestigious award for services to Environmental Research. 

Formerly BGS’ Principal Economic Geologist, Mr Gunn became an Honorary Research Fellow earlier this year.

Much of Mr Gunn UK work was carried out as part of the now legendary BGS Mineral Reconnaissance Programme where he worked on a wide variety projects from Shetland to Devon via the Dalradian of north-west Great Britain.

Mr Gunn breadth of international work for BGS is long and impressive, including major mapping and mineral exploration programmes in Bolivia and Ecuador. Mr Gunn spent many weeks in the field in wild and remote Andean terranes. He was also a major contributor to the BGS programme in Africa over the years, from Mauritania to Ethiopia, Botswana to Liberia

Between 2007 and 2012 Mr Gunn was head of the BGS Metallic Minerals team, leading the radical shift from researching ‘traditional’ base and precious metal deposits (such as copper and gold) into the much less well known area of critical metal deposits. This move put BGS at the forefront of research on this topic in the UK and Europe, as well as securing Mr Gunn place as the leading UK expert on criticality assessment and metal supply security. Mr Gunn has provided advice on critical metals and security of supply to the UK Government and Parliament, the EU, NATO, the International Energy Agency and industry, Latterly advising colleagues at the Faraday Challenge and Innovate UK on how to meet the raw material challenges associated with the development of UK manufacturing capacity for electric vehicles.

I am delighted, highly honoured and pleasantly surprised to receive this award. I would like to thank all the people I have worked with over many years, both inside and outside BGS, and especially those who recommended me for this honour.

With rapidly growing demand from new and green technologies there is major concern about the so-called critical metals essential for low carbon technologies, such as clean energy and transport. I have been part of the BGS team working in this field since 2008 and we are now a key global player. I am sure this will continue in the future.

Gus Gunn

I’m thrilled at Gus being awarded an MBE. He is universally admired and respected in the field of minerals and there is a no more deserving person to receive this honour.

Karen Hanghoj, BGS Director