Britain’s coasts are facing being opened up to mining under government plans to help end reliance on China for crucial materials.
Ministers have set out plans to carry out a “nationwide assessment” of the UK’s stockpiles of materials needed for mobile phones, electric car batteries and electronics, and encourage commercial extraction.
While much will be on land, efforts include understanding “the risks and potential for environmentally responsible extraction of minerals from coastal waters.”
The scoping work comes against a backdrop of growing concern over supply chains in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The disruption of energy and good flows due to sanctions and geopolitics has brought a sharp focus on where the nations’ crucial resources come from.
Setting out a new critical minerals strategy this week, Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said the UK market is vulnerable to “market shocks, geopolitical events and logistical disruptions”.
He added: “Critical minerals will become even more important as we seek to strengthen our energy security and national industrial resilience, in light of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and as we move away from volatile and expensive fossil fuels”.
China currently dominates the supply and processing of materials that will be in increasing demand in the transition to greener energy, such as lithium, niobium and ruthenium. These materials are crucial for the production of clean energy technology such as batteries.
Dependence on China is seen as a growing threat as relations between the West and Beijing become more difficult. MI6 chief Richard Moore said this week that the fight against China was now his agency’s top priority, eclipsing counter-terrorism.
Crown Estate license mining rights in coastal areas of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the UK already has a significant dredging industry that supplies sand and gravel for construction and engineering projects.
In 2020, the Crown Estate awarded the rights to Cornish Lithium to explore for lithium in geothermal waters off the north and south coasts of Cornwall. Cornish Lithium is part of a new wave of developers looking to mine lithium in the UK given growing demand for electric car batteries.
The UK is also looking for opportunities in the Pacific through the controversial practice of seabed mining.
It sponsors exploration licenses for UK Seabed Resources, a subsidiary of defense giant Lockheed Martin.
Ministers have pledged not to support mining licenses until more is known about how the practice affects the environment.
The UK will “continue to contribute to discussions on seabed mining […] pushing for higher environmental standards,” the Government added last week.