Professor Frances Wall, Professor of Applied Mineralogy at the Camborne School of Mines and active member of the Cornish Chamber of Mines and Minerals (CCMM) was part of an expert panel to discuss critical mineral supply chains and provide evidence on critical minerals circular economy research and mining education.
Critical minerals provide essential ingredients throughout the manufacturing industries, including all of the low carbon technologies like electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels that are needed to combat the climate emergency.
Professor Wall provided advice for a key report, called <em>Resilience for the Future: The United Kingdom’s Critical Minerals Strategy,</em> and published in July 2022.
The Strategy contains three main actions: to accelerate growth of the UK’s domestic capabilities; collaborate with international partners; and enhance international markets to make them more responsive, transparent and responsible.
Professor Wall, said, <em>“there is much that we can contribute, including our work at the </em><em>university on the responsible production and stewardship of critical minerals, in partnership with our industry colleagues worldwide. Our links with the CCMM and the Cornwall Mining Alliance help us engage with mineral developers and supply chain businesses in Cornwall and Devon”</em>
Whilst critical minerals like lithium, cobalt and rare earths are economically vital, supplies are limited to a few localities worldwide, making them vulnerable to supply disruption. The report highlights the need for the UK to improve the resilience of critical mineral supply chains to increase their security.
The UK Critical Minerals Strategy can be found <a href=”https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-critical-mineral-strategy” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>HERE.</a>
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