Sector Introduction

Overview of the extractive sectors in the UK

The UK’s extractive industries comprise oil and gas production, mining and quarrying. The extractive sector has made a sizeable contribution to the UK economy for many years and remains an important sector in the UK. In 2023, industry gross value added (GVA) was £14 billion, down from £19 billion in 2022, according to latest official statistics. But other data (from the ONS and the NSTA) suggest the sector's GVA is likely to have been far higher in 2022. The extraction of oil and gas and associated support service activities accounts for more than 85% of the sector’s GVA. More detailed information on the sector in general and the oil and gas and mining and quarrying sectors in the UK is given elsewhere on the UK EITI website.

Mining and Quarrying Sector

Construction minerals

Construction minerals are essential to the UK economy, improving our housing stock, transport networks, commercial and industrial buildings, energy and water infrastructure, schools and hospitals. The main element of construction minerals in volume terms is the extraction of primary aggregates, including quarried crushed rock and both land-won and marine dredged sand & gravel. 

The Mineral Products Association estimates (1) that 191.1 million tonnes of primary aggregates were produced in the UK in 2022, representing 2.5 times the total tonnage of energy minerals produced in the same year. Within primary aggregates, 135.1 million tonnes of crushed rock and 56 million tonnes of sand & gravel were produced. Marine-dredged aggregates satisfied 14 million tonnes (25%) of the total construction needs for sand & gravel in 2022 (2).

Construction minerals extraction and related downstream manufacturing activities are distributed throughout the UK and extraction businesses make a variety of tax, financial and non-financial contributions to national and local governments and local communities that are outside the current scope of EITI reporting. This includes the Aggregates Levy, employment taxes and businesses rates.

The Aggregates Levy was introduced in 2002 as an environmental tax applied to all primary aggregate sales in the UK with the aim to encourage recycling and use of by-products from other industrial processes. In 2022, the annual cost of the Aggregates Levy reached £378m (3).

Coal

Whilst coal still plays a part in the UK’s energy mix, its contribution is declining. Although the UK still has a significant coal resource there are only a small number of operating mines, predominantly opencast. In terms of underground mines, Eckington in Derbyshire, one of a few remaining small mines, closed in January 2019. That being said, West Cumbrian Coal received planning permission in March 2019 for the Woodhouse Colliery, which is anticipated could produce up to 3.1 million tonnes/year of metallurgical coal for the steelmaking industry.

Industrial and metal minerals

Mineral resources such as high-purity limestone and silica sand have numerous non-construction uses, ranging from iron and steel and glass making to cleaning acidic power station emissions and improving the performance and sustainability of UK agriculture. China Clay or Kaolin support a wide range of industrial markets including ceramics, paper and specialist applications such as fillers for pharmaceuticals, paints, adhesives and animal feeds, while Ball Clays are used principally in the ceramics industry for industrial applications, including sanitaryware, tile manufacture and tableware. Future extraction trends for industrial minerals will depend on movements in UK and overseas markets and on the competitiveness of operating costs and the business environment in the UK.

Over the last 18 months there have been significant developments in this area. Anglo American plc took over Sirius Minerals in March 2020 and development of the Woodsmith Mine, a major new polyhalite mine in the North Yorkshire moors is accelerating. In the South West, the Drakelands Tungsten mine that was closed in October 2018 has a new owner, Tungsten West, which is developing plans to restart the mine early in 2021. Elsewhere, plans to reopen the South Crofty Tin mine in Cornwall by Cornish Metals (formally Strongbow Exploration) continue and the company reported on a successful drilling programme in summer 2020. Cornish Lithium recently reported it has found “globally significant” lithium grades in geothermal waters and is preparing for work on its pilot plant. Cornwall Resources are also moving forward with the development of their Redmoor project, of a significant tin, tungsten and copper deposit and a mining scoping study has recently been completed. The significant resource of gold at Curraghinalt in Northern Ireland (Dalradian) and Cononish in Scotland (Scotgold), where a recent announcement has been made to accelerate plans to double production, are other exciting examples that illustrate the continuing importance of the UK as a mineral producer.

National Policies

The UK has had no overarching national mineral strategy, policy or plan recognising the economic importance of a steady supply of essential minerals and mineral products, from domestic sources or imported. Instead, the policy responsibility for the majority of mineral interests is a devolved matter. The current relevant planning documents for each part of the United Kingdom are:

• In England, the National Planning Policy Framework (England),
• In Scotland, Scottish Planning Policy 4: “Planning for Minerals” and “National Planning Framework/Scottish Planning Policy”
• In Wales, Planning Policy Wales and Minerals Technical Advice Note 1 and 2 (MTAN1 and MTAN2)
• In Northern Ireland, Strategic Planning Policy Statement for Northern Ireland, (SPPS)

The English National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states in paragraph 203 that “It is essential that there is a sufficient supply of minerals to provide the infrastructure, buildings, energy and goods that the country needs. Since minerals are a finite natural resource, and can only be worked where they are found, best use needs to be made of them to secure their long-term conservation.”

In 2018, in response to the lack of overarching strategy, the minerals industry produced a UK Minerals Strategy which sets out the importance of the sector to the UK economy and highlights measures necessary to ensure that demand for minerals and mineral products is supplied sustainably over the next 25 years. A second edition of the Strategy was published in 2022[4], addressing key issues that have emerged and evolved over the previous five years including:

• Climate change: Net zero carbon, climate change mitigation, adaptation & resilience, implications for and contribution from minerals;

• Nature recovery: Biodiversity gain, and contribution of minerals development, including the legacy provided by restored sites;

• Essentiality: Stressing that while some minerals are considered critical, all are essential and may become critical should supply be compromised;

• Replenishment: Continued under-replenishment of mineral reserves, production capacity and looming arbitrary end-dates on many reserves.

In July 2022, the UK government published the first Critical Minerals Strategy "Resilience for the Future: The UK's Critical Minerals Strategy", which set out plans for improving the resilience of critical minerals supply chains and increasing the UK’s security of supply. The strategy aims to accelerate the growth of the UK’s domestic capabilities, improve collaboration with international partners and enhance international markets to make them more responsive, transparent and responsible. This was updated in March 2023, with “Critical Minerals Refresh: Delivering resilience in a changing global environment” to reflect the changing global landscape and the sharpening of geopolitical competition.  

For more information see Mining and Quarrying in the UK