Marco Maestri reports that the public perception of the United Kingdom (UK) mining industry summed up in a nutshell. It’s a depressing fact that the majority of British people conjure up images of Thatcher, picket lines, a beetroot-faced Arthur Scargill, and, at a push, Poldark or Billy Elliot when asked to describe “mining”. This is particularly disappointing considering we are probably in the top-10 commodity consumers per capita in the world, and mineral extraction still takes place in the UK. Thankfully, that rather blinkered view might be about to change. Recent developments indicate that the UK is on the brink of a mining renaissance with several interesting projects at various stages of development, from grass roots to advanced feasibility, through to operating mines.
Many of these projects have been known about for years but as the technological, economic or political landscape changes, so it seems has the viability of the previously well sheltered UK mineral assets. The Royal HaskoningDHV mining team are proud to have been involved in several UK mining development projects - including feasibility study support, Resource statements, mine design, valuations, drilling support, investment due diligence, permitting, and logistics and material handling design. Whilst globalisation and changing political attitudes rang the death knell for a large part of the operating UK mining industry over 35 years ago, similar reasons can be identified for the relatively healthy pipeline of projects currently on offer.
This is not to dismiss the enduringly robust industrial mineral quarry sector or the several soft rock and thermal coal mines (the flagbearer for UK mining for centuries) still in operation across the union, but rather to focus on a new swathe of projects, minerals, methods, investment and jobs that could potentially arrive as a result. Below he has outlined 5 reasons why he believes the UK mining industry is looking healthier than it has for quite some time.
Original URL: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/uk-mining-renaissance-marco-maestri/
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