More domestic mining, processing, recycling, and fewer dependencies on single nations.
Britain is aiming to secure its supply of critical minerals with a new Critical Minerals Strategy, setting out a plan to strengthen industrial resilience through more domestic mining, processing, and recycling, while reducing exposure to single-country supply risks. The approach closely mirrors the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), though the UK’s targets are tailored to its smaller market and specific geological strengths.
The strategy commits the UK to producing 10% of its mineral needs domestically and supplying 20% through recycling by 2035. It also introduces a dependency rule: no more than 60% of any mineral should come from a single source country by 2035. To achieve this, the government seeks to expand partnerships with resource-rich, politically aligned nations worldwide.
The EU has set similar but more ambitious targets under the CRMA, reflecting its larger market size and leverage, which came into force in May 2024. By 2030, the EU aims for 10% domestic extraction, 40% EU-based processing, and 25% recycling, while limiting reliance on any single third country to 65% for each strategic raw material. Despite differences in policy design, the UK and EU mineral lists show roughly 80% overlap, underscoring shared concerns around critical minerals needed for various high-tech applications.
A signature commitment in the UK strategy is to produce at least 50,000 tons of lithium domestically by 2035, supporting both energy security and the UK’s battery and automotive transition plans. The government also highlights regional strengths, presenting a geographically distributed industrial strategy built around both extraction and midstream processing. Cornwall and Devon are noted for their mining potential in lithium, tin, and tungsten, the Midlands for magnet manufacturing and automotive supply chains, for example.
More on the topic: The UK has been working for several years to strengthen its critical minerals supply. Its first Critical Minerals Strategy was published in 2022 and has already been updated multiple times, followed by the Critical Imports and Supply Chains Strategy in early 2024, which aimed to improve coordination between government and industry.
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