The UK National Minerals Forum

Nigel Jackson, chairman of the CBI Minerals Group, outlines the need for a strategic view of the future development of all UK mineral resources

In the opening address given on behalf of the CBI Minerals Group at the inaugural ‘Living with Minerals’ conference in June 2004 a number of key strategic issues of concern to the UK minerals industry were set out, of which the following are of particular importance. The need for:

• A better strategic debate about the future development of all UK mineral resources.
• A more effective interface between the industry and government.
• More effective government sponsorship of the industry.

A better strategic debate about the future development of all UK mineral resources

The supply of minerals is a long-term business; even relatively small ‘short-term’ sites can have a life cycle from exploration to the completion of restoration and aftercare of up to 15–20 years, with many larger-scale sites having lives measured in decades. As such, strategic planning for the industry needs to be long term and requires regular review. The existing mineral-planning system goes some way to meeting these requirements but is largely focused upon a five- and 10-year horizon as opposed to, for example, the life cycle of a generation – widely accepted as being 25 years.

Currently no economic or resource planning tool exists which contemplates this length of time, and there is no process which looks across the various construction, energy, and industrial mineral groups comprehensively in terms of the longer-term needs of the UK economy and society for these essential minerals.

While the aggregates sector has the benefit of demand forecasts, which are typically set against a 15-year backdrop and which are regularly reviewed, this is exceptional. Although supply assumptions are made they are not derived from a longer-term view that has rigorously assessed the individual components of supply and the potential constraints upon them in any consistent and strategic way.

The last attempt to undertake a more strategic overview and consider the longer-term relationship between forecast demand and the various components of supply took place in relation to aggregates as part of the 1975 Verney Report ‘Aggregates: The way ahead’. This effectively created the architecture for the current system of managed aggregates supply within the mineral planning system for England and Wales. Thirty years on this seminal work is worthy of reconsideration, if only to identify which of the assumptions and conclusions have proved to be correct and which have not. In the light of such a review it would be possible to learn the lessons and apply those with wider applications across all mineral sectors, and then look forward.

The minerals industry believes that now is the ideal time to consider the next 25-year period given the common and increasing pressures and constraints bearing down upon all land-based mineral extraction activities and the growing awareness that the current Energy Review has given to the issues of access to, and security of, supply of minerals.

Existing levels of demand for all minerals are likely to prevail for at least the next 10 to 15 years if present economic conditions broadly persist, but due to increasing difficulties in obtaining planning permission, many existing operations may be unable to sustain current levels of production for this period or, where they can, much beyond. While imports may well be capable of making up potential production shortfalls of some minerals, this may not necessarily be the case and, even so, there would be broader sustainability, logistics and infrastructure issues to consider.

The need for a more strategic review has become all the more pressing following the split of DETR in 2001 as there is neither a single organization which acts as the guardian of a national minerals strategy nor any process which links similar perspectives on different mineral groups into a coherent national picture. While detailed mineral planning work in Scotland and Wales had been devolved prior to the formal devolution of powers during the 1997–2001 parliament, the process has increased the difficulty of taking a national strategic view catering for the needs of the UK as a whole.

The industry believes that, in an era when generational considerations underpin the application of sustainable development to the management of all natural resources, the lack of any overarching machinery capable of taking an effective overview of the future needs and direction of the UK’s minerals industries is in itself unsustainable. It invites the possibility that potential supply shortfalls could emerge too late for the existing planning system to be able to respond quickly enough to compensate with supplies from new indigenous mineral resources.

Therefore, a strategic review which considers previous work, such as Verney, but updated and developed in the light of the advances that have taken place in the industry over the last 30 years or so and applied to all mineral sectors, is both timely and prudent.

Undertaking such a review will ensure that there is a better, more informed and more coherent debate about the future use of UK mineral resources, ensuring that the issues of access to minerals and security of supply are properly considered within the principles of sustainable development.

In an ideal world such an exercise should be owned by the DTI as sponsoring department of all the UK’s mineral sectors. However, this currently appears unlikely given the prevailing and continuing uncertainty with regard to resourcing within government. Consequently, the industry intends to take the initiative for undertaking a review itself and building and developing the relationships with government that are capable of surviving continual restructuring and budgetary constraints. The review would engage and draw upon all mineral sectors, the MPAs, the Government’s environmental regulatory agencies and, if appropriate, selected voluntary countryside and environmental organizations. Of paramount importance is the need to ensure that DCLG, DEFRA, the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) and the Scottish Executive (SE) have the opportunity to engage in any such work to ensure that a comprehensive, consistent and cohesive approach is achieved for the UK as a whole where appropriate.

A better interface between the industry and government

Currently the industry in England is steered by four main government departments and a variety of agencies. DCLG is charged with setting planning policy for minerals, DEFRA sets environmental policy, with the Environment Agency and English Nature (now part of Natural England) discharging many statutory responsibilities. The Health and Safety Executive, now part of the DWP, administers statutory control over mine and quarry safety and the DTI acts as the sponsor for all mineral sectors, ie energy, construction and industrial minerals.

[img_assist|nid=12789|title=Aggregate management|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=150|height=200]The industry deals with all four departments variously but very rarely in concert. At no time do the WAG, the SE and the four English departments either assemble or make themselves accessible concurrently. Nor is the Northern Ireland administration engaged to allow the UK view to be taken. While this is arguably unsurprising given the individual mandates of busy and under-resourced administrations and organizations, and the recent trend towards UK regional devolution, is it right?

For primary industries as essential to the health of the economy as quarrying, it was felt that some form of ‘UK National Minerals Forum’ was required in order to consider the strategic use of the UK’s mineral resources for the next generation and, act as a focal point for developing solutions to issues which unreasonably constrain access to minerals or jeopardize security of supply.

A potential model for the Forum was found at DCLG in the National Coordinating Group for Aggregates, which draws together a fairly widely based membership from the RAWPs (Regional Aggregate Working Parties), the WAG, the SE, the MPAs and the industry and provides a valuable role in the overall management of the managed supply policy – a model that could be replicated, reinforced and developed for the wider purpose described above.

After months of dialogue both within the industry and between industry and various government departments, the CBI Minerals Group decided to form the ‘UK National Minerals Forum’ and take responsibility for its operation. This represented an innovative and pragmatic response that avoided waiting for government to ‘join up’ its thinking and resourcing in the belief that it is better to take the initiative and invite others to respond and engage rather than waiting in hope for a government initiative only to be disappointed.

The Forum provides a unique vehicle and process for the minerals sector and its stakeholders underpinned by the following terms of reference:

• To act as the overarching national mineral industry forum which draws together all the main stakeholders necessary to help inform government on the prudent use of UK mineral resources, and keep this advice and information up to date.
• To undertake a strategic review of the UK’s mineral resources and how they may be most prudently developed in order to ensure that the economy and society receive the essential minerals they need over the next 25 years, and keep it up to date.
• To act as the focal point for developing solutions which respond to challenges arising as a result of either a specific or the cumulative impacts of legislation which unreasonably constrain access to minerals or which jeopardize security of supply.

Membership will be lean, flexible, appropriate and focused upon a limited number of key cross-sectoral issues to avoid duplication of effort among the various contributors.

The key opportunity created by the Forum is the process it provides in marshalling the relevant stakeholders from industry, government and, where appropriate, third parties to identify solutions to problems created by ‘un-joined up government’.

More effective government sponsorship of the industry

DTI is the current sponsor of all the minerals industry sectors. However, its current structure dictates that construction, energy and industrial minerals are all managed by different directorates. The minerals industry believes there is much to be gained by having some form of common point of contact where all mineral groups can interface within DTI as they are currently able to do with regard to mineral planning matters within DCLG.

The industry’s perception is that the current fragmented approach dilutes the profile that this major industrial sector deserves as an essential contributor to the economy and built environment and manufacturing base. It needs a visible focal point within DTI which creates a recognizable figurehead to act, and which is seen to act, as ‘the sponsor’ for the minerals industry and which harnesses the various interfaces with the industry within DTI. This would give a stronger belief within the minerals industry that its interests were being well represented within government and properly addressed in a co-ordinated way. Equally, it would give government confidence that as society enters an era where the use of natural resources requires ever more strategic and prudent management, the industry is able to fulfil its role in maintaining a steady and adequate supply of all minerals.

Summary

The CBI Minerals Group believes that the three issues outlined above are sufficiently important to justify further, more detailed work, which could break new ground and create a better foundation for the stewardship of the minerals industry as a whole for the next 25 years. Such an approach could make the profound step change that Verney did for the aggregates industry 30 years ago, but now for all mineral groups.

The Government will be more likely to achieve its aim of delivering improved infrastructure and development of improved public sector objectives with: all essential minerals operating within the same framework of common strategic analysis; a better interface with government by means of the ‘UK National Minerals Forum’; and more effective and visible sponsorship.

To further develop these issues, last month [6 November] the CBI Minerals Group held its second ‘Living with Minerals’ conference in London (see Industry News, p3). The event aimed to recognize and promote the essential contribution the extractive industries make to the UK economy and our way of life, and how this can be sustained for the next generation. It focused on: the constraints which inhibit access to minerals; security of supply for the long term; the increased demand created by the Olympics, London Gateway and the Growth Areas; and how the dialogue between the industry and environmental organizations can be improved to create a better mutual understanding. After the conference the Associate Parliamentary Minerals Group hosted a reception at the House of Commons where the ‘UK National Minerals Forum’ was formally launched.

In taking these initiatives, the CBI Minerals Group is responding to those who have pleaded for years that the industry needs to get on the front foot and make the case for minerals. That time has now come and the CBI Minerals Group is looking forward to engaging, listening and taking the outputs of ‘Living with Minerals 2’ forward as the agenda for the future work of the ‘UK National Minerals Forum’.

This paper is based on an article which first appeared in Mineral Planning magazine and is reproduced here by kind permission.