Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that social value for communities and workers is prioritised in the forthcoming Critical Mineral Strategy.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The new Critical Minerals Strategy will support the industries of tomorrow, be explicitly targeted at UK strengths, articulate the impacts on people’s lives, deliver for businesses and create new jobs across the UK.
In developing the Strategy, the UK Government is committed to the sustainable development of natural resources in the UK and overseas, in close collaboration with local communities and their workforce to ensure they benefit in turn. The UK Government places a high priority on mining and mineral processing being carried out to the highest standards.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of mandating a 50,000 tons per annum production target for domestic lithium.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A secure supply of critical minerals is vital for the UK's economic growth and security, industrial strategy ambitions, and clean energy transition.
Domestic production of lithium will be increasingly important as demand for resilient and responsible sources of critical minerals grows. The St Austell and Newquay constituency is home to several promising lithium projects like Imerys-British Lithium and Cornish Lithium, which recently celebrated opening the UK's first lithium hydroxide demonstration plant this month.
Government is considering policy options to secure our critical mineral supply chains and will be engaging closely with industry to realise our potential for producing critical minerals domestically.