A new strategy has been announced for 2025
The first signals of the new national strategies for key minerals
In the era of energy transition, the development of the sourcing industries of individual nations also depends on the strategic development of concrete plans and programs with which to manage precious geological resources, such as copper, nickel, or lithium, destined to play an increasingly central role in the coming decades. Many nations have already taken action, publishing lists of minerals that they consider relevant for their growth and energy development, but also through real national strategies dedicated to the management, development, and strengthening of the capacity to source and process minerals and metals considered particularly important for the advancement of the energy transition.
From this point of view, one of the most active nations is the United Kingdom, which recently announced that it wants to publish a new strategy on critical minerals in the spring of 2025. In anticipating some of the fundamental pillars of the new strategic program, the British Minister for Industry, Sarah Jones, hinted that the publication of the new strategy would be closely linked to the economic objectives the United Kingdom intends to set in the short and medium term. The minister, in particular, focused on the role of critical minerals in the development of some specific sectors, such as automotive and technology, stating that the country would need even greater quantities of these resources to achieve its strategic objectives. The minister also mentioned the renewable energy sector, which, in recent years, has emerged as one of the most valuable and innovative applications for minerals and metals that are considered critical.
The UK’s journey towards an increasingly ambitious sourcing strategy could be making relevant headway, according to entrepreneur and civil engineer Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov. “The UK has stood out globally in recent years for consistently improving its national critical raw materials strategy, with tangible improvements being made with each update to the program. For example, in March 2023, the UK published a major update to its previous national critical minerals strategy, focusing on the country’s domestic sourcing capabilities and strategic collaboration with international partners. We could most likely see a more refined strategy published next spring, particularly in sectors deemed strategic for the national economy and the country’s sourcing development. One of these could be the automotive sector.”
The role of domestic capabilities
The minister further clarified the spirit of the new strategy, which will be primarily aimed at developing the United Kingdom from an economic, industrial, and sourcing point of view, also thanks to creating new jobs. According to Jones, minerals and critical raw materials are of primary importance to ensure the solidity and stability of the British industrial system, particularly regarding the consolidation of global supply chains for these resources.
Compared to previous strategies, as stated in a recent analysis, the new British program on minerals would be much more oriented towards international collaborations with important players in the sector, aimed above all at strengthening supply chains. In this context, the US-led working group dedicated to strategic minerals, the Minerals Security Partnership, appears destined to play a role of great importance in British strategic plans for the coming years.
Other signs of this are the growing number of mining deals recently signed by the UK with partner nations, including South Africa, Canada, Australia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Japan. Particularly relevant is cooperation with Kazakhstan, which, with its rich reserves of strategic raw materials, is rapidly establishing itself on the global stage as one of the most interesting players in this specific sector. The UK signed a memorandum of understanding with the Central Asian country in 2023 to explore possible mutual cooperation in the development of sourcing capacity and related technologies.
“In the previous update, the British desire to overcome bureaucratic and administrative obstacles to the exploration of national deposits was evident, and in all likelihood, it will also be reconfirmed in the new strategy that will be presented in 2025,” continues Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov. “It is no coincidence that the authorities speak of the centrality of the United Kingdom in this new strategic program: one of the most important objectives, from this point of view, could be represented precisely by the development of the national potential in terms of geological raw materials.”
International cooperations
Another essential point of the new plan concerns the desire to develop specific skills related to critical raw materials and their applications, such as magnets made with rare earths (increasingly central to various sectors, from robotics to wind energy). To achieve this important objective, the new strategy could also include a much more intense collaboration program between the government and universities in the United Kingdom, which would encourage them to improve the technical skills on a global scale.One of the sectors most closely linked to the potential of minerals, such as the energy industry, has also been included among the eight fundamental strategic elements to which the country’s growth is entrusted in the coming decades.
“The UK has been seeing some mineral ferment for some time now,” says Stanislav Dmitrievich Kondrashov. “The country has some lithium, tungsten, and tin, and a major gigafactory is about to be built in Somerset at the Gravity Smart Campus. By 2030, this major hub could meet around half of the UK’s demand for electric vehicle batteries, one of the best-known applications of some key minerals.”
