Minerals and Waste

The Minerals and Waste programme is run by the British Geological Survey, in partnership with others (see below), in order to address the need for the UK to secure a sustainable supply of minerals and energy, in the face of the population increase and environmental change.

See story about this programme on the LWEC website 

What will the programme do?

The programme will

1. Raw materials for new technologies

Investigate the sources of raw materials for environmental technologies such as electric vehicles and wind turbines.

2. UK building stones

Investigate the carbon cost of domestically-produced materials for the construction industry. Working with the University of Glasgow and the University of the West of Scotland and organisations such as Historic Scotland and the Scottish Stone Liaison Group, the aim is to better understand the carbon cost and behaviour of building stone in response to climate change.

3. Global monitoring and analysis of mineral production

This will inform European Union and UK policy on security of supply in the face of population growth and environmental change. The British Geological Survey currently exchanges information and collaborate with 170 geological surveys, mine ministries and regulators across the globe to collate and verify these data.  

4. Long-term impact of minewaste on ecosystems and human health

Ths will provide data and methods to underpin the implementation of the Minewaste Directive in the UK.

5. Safe disposal of radioactive waste and safe transport of radioactive elements

Advice will be provided to the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the European Commission and will also assist in the development of the new phase of nuclear power plants, that will play a major part in helping the UK to meet its carbon reduction targets.

Expected outputs

• Enhanced economy and environment through better national policy on planning for secure and sustainable mineral supply
• Reduced operational and regulatory costs and improved environmental performance of mineral extraction
• New guidance for England on safeguarding of minerals. This places a non-monetary valuation on mineral resources in the ground which is intended to ensure that their value to future generations is considered when making decisions about built development
• Advice to the European Commission on raw materials, feeding into possible new policy on identification and mitigation of problems related to security of supply of critical raw materials - particularly those for environmental technologies in a world where competition for such resources is growing rapidly such as rare earth elements and metals such as gallium, indium and cobalt
• Ability to rapidly simulate greenhouse gas implications of national and regional spatial policy decisions regarding supply of aggregate minerals to UK economy. Aggregate minerals are the largest material flow in the UK economy and any reduction on emissions associated with extraction, processing and transport is likely to generate significant benefits
• Enhanced energy security and reduced greenhouse gases for the UK through improved long-term radioactive waste management policies associated with the new build nuclear programme
• Better radioactive waste repository design and improved safety case

Who will benefit?

• Elected representatives, civil servants and officials (EU, UK national government such as Communities and Local Government, Department of Food, and Rural Affairs, Business Innovation and Skills, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Ministry of Defence, Department for International Development, UK devolved governments and local authorities
• Regulators such as Environment Agenecy, Natural England, English Heritage, Coal Authority, Countryside Council for Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage, Historic Scotland
• Industry such as Mineral Products Association and other trade associations, CBI Minerals Group, Nuclear Decommissioning Agency, other European/ international waste management organisations
• Non governmental organisations and campaigning groups such as Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, Council for National Parks, RSPB
• Advisory committees and fora (Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, UK Minerals Forum)
• Research facilitators (Mineral Industry Research Organisation, European Technology Platforms on Radioactive Waste and Minerals)
• General public such as communities directly and indirectly impacted by minerals and waste operations

PROGRAMME FACTS AND FIGURES

Start and end dates: 01/04/09 to 31/03/14

Other partners involved are:
DG Enterprise, European Commission Raw Materials Initiative
FP7 Euratom (FORGE)
Centre for Spatial Policy Analysis
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

Website: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk