Maintaining a vibrant minerals industry

THE Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Parliamentary Minerals Group are to bring together industrialists, environmentalists and politicians to ensure that the UK’s vibrant extractive industry can be maintained for the future. Over 200 delegates and guests will be invited to debate the issue at an afternoon conference, ‘Living with Minerals’, in London on 7 June.

Speakers at the event will include: DTI Minister Jacqui Smith; Shadow Industry Secretary Stephen O’Brien; CBI director general Digby Jones; Sir Crispin Tickell, former chairman of the Government Panel on Sustainable Development; Robert Barrington, director of socially responsible investment with ISIS Asset Management; and former Environment Secretary John Gummer.

Nigel Jackson, chairman of the CBI Minerals Group and executive director of Lafarge Aggregates, said: ‘The minerals industry is of critical importance to the well-being of UK plc. We are concerned about the ever increasing volume of regulation under which the industry has to operate coming from both Whitehall and Brussels. The cumulative effect of this regulation is hitting at our ability to operate.

‘The event will promote the importance of a vibrant indigenous mineral-extraction industry and explore ways of maintaining it for future generations. Britain is richly endowed with mineral resources and there is a need for a mature debate with environmental organizations on ways of meeting the country’s essential raw materials requirements without compromising the goals of sustainable development.’