The UK can capitalise on a pretty outrageous slice of luck, if this government or the next has the initiative. It just so happens that rare-earth elements coveted by industries the world over – such as lithium, tungsten, tin and copper – exist in abundance beneath our feet. Despite decades of industrial decline, we now find ourselves with a wealth of resources for processing and manufacturing. The question is, can we take advantage of it?
These days, critical and rare-earth elements are invariably discussed in terms of renewable energy and driving the (so far non-existent) ‘green energy revolution’. But this obscures their true potential. Yes, lithium is vital for wind turbines and solar panels, but it’s also critical for common batteries and regular pharmaceuticals. Tin is used for smartphones, laptops and other everyday IT equipment. Tungsten, perhaps the least celebrated of the lot, is increasingly needed in defence technology. Importantly, all of it exists in the UK.
Of all these rare-earth elements, lithium seems set to have the brightest future domestically. Cornish Lithium’s Cross Lanes Lithium Project has received nearly £60million of funding from UK Research and Investment, among others, and nearly £5million from a crowdfunding campaign. The company is working towards annual production of 20,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium by 2030, which would meet around 20 per cent of the UK’s needs. In County Durham, Weardale Lithium is developing what will be another significant source, with a target of 10,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide per year.
As promising as this sounds, it is dwarfed by the potential of tungsten deposits at the Hemerdon Mine in Devon. First discovered in 1867, the tungsten deposits happen to be one of the world’s largest. While China currently dominates tungsten production, with around 80 per cent market share, that might be about to change. Tungsten West, the mine’s owner, is hoping to produce 2,900 tonnes of tungsten and 310 tonnes of tin annually when the mine becomes operational. It would make the UK one of the world’s leading exporters of the metal during the mine’s forecast life of 27 years.
Tungsten is incredibly valuable. It is used in military applications, such as armour-piercing projectiles and missile counterweights. It is also used for radiation shielding in medical-imaging equipment, in surgical devices and in renewable-energy systems. Energy secretary Ed Miliband will have to decide if his pursuit of green energy can coexist with mining and processing materials essential for that goal.
Tungsten and lithium mines aren’t the only ones with a future in the UK. Rare-earth-containing minerals like allanite, apatite and gadolinite look to be in plentiful supply on the Isle of Arran, Scotland, and in other old, granite-based landscapes. Alluvial sediments in Northern Ireland may be yet another promising source of rare-earth elements. Even copper may make a comeback in the UK. While there has been no copper mining in Britain for decades, new deposits have been found in Cornwall, Wales and Scotland that could be exploited with new mining techniques.
The UK has been fortunate enough to discover that, like during the Industrial Revolution, it has reserves of raw materials that the world desperately needs and is seeing rising demand for. This is especially vital at a time of increasing uncertainty and insecurity. The re-election of Donald Trump in the US has, if anything, reaffirmed the need for greater economic self-reliance. The idea that resources, supplies and raw materials could be obtained by establishing free-trade deals – often with countries who do not have our best interests at heart – has never looked less certain.
The re-emergence of lithium and tungsten mining is a positive step, but far from enough on its own. The UK has enormous amounts of shale gas, which we refuse to extract yet continue to import from overseas – at increasingly high costs – to meet our energy needs. Labour’s ban on all new offshore drilling licenses in the North Sea is costing the UK hundreds of millions of barrels of oil, not to mention many well-paying jobs.
We need to exploit all of our natural resources, not just those associated with the so-called green-energy transition. It’s time for the UK economy to get its hands dirty once again.
Ruari McCallion is a freelance journalist specialising in manufacturing. He tweets at @RuariJM.
