Andrew Fulton, CEO, Anglesey Mining Plc, reiterates the importance of UK brownfield projects and explains how revitalising them could scope the UK industrial future.
The UK’s need for secure and resilient mineral supply chains is growing. Critical minerals underpin
advanced manufacturing, defence, clean energy, and digital infrastructure, while copper – which is now
recognised by the Government as a growth mineral – will be fundamental to electrification and the
expansion of Britain’s energy infrastructure.
The Government’s Vision 2035 Critical Minerals Strategy recognises this challenge. It aims for at least
10% of annual UK industrial demand for critical minerals, in aggregate, to be met through domestic
production by 2035, alongside increased recycling and more diversified international supply chains.
Achieving that will require discoveries, recycling, international partnerships, and investment in
processing. But Britain should also make better use of an asset it already possesses: its historic
mining districts.
Brownfield mining does not mean that development is straightforward. Historic projects must meet
the same modern technical, economic, environmental, and planning standards as any new mine. But
they can start with advantages: established geological knowledge, previous workings and
infrastructure, known mineral systems, and communities with a long understanding of mining.
Parys Mountain (Mynydd Parys) on Anglesey in North Wales being redeveloped by Anglesey
Mining is one example. Mining there dates back centuries, but beneath that heritage lies a modern
polymetallic resource containing zinc, classified by the UK as a critical mineral, copper, now
recognised as a growth mineral, alongside lead, silver, and gold.
The opportunity is not simply to reopen the past. It is to determine whether a known British mineral
system can be responsibly developed to modern standards and contribute metals required by the
economy of the future.
Parys Mountain is not alone. Tungsten West has brought Hemerdon in Devon back into production,
while Cornish Metals is advancing the redevelopment of South Crofty and projects across Cornwall, pursuing new domestic sources of tin and lithium.
Government backing for Hemerdon and South Crofty is particularly significant. It demonstrates
recognition that domestic mineral production can have strategic value extending beyond the
economics of an individual mine.
The next step should be to turn that recognition into a coherent framework: predictable and
proportionate permitting; better coordination between government and regulators; support for
skills and infrastructure; access to appropriate development capital; and recognition of credible
domestic mining projects within industrial policy.
None of this diminishes the importance of environmental protection or local communities.
Brownfield projects sit within landscapes and communities shaped by their mining heritage.
Developers therefore have a particular responsibility to demonstrate that modern mining can
respect both place and people while creating long-term economic opportunity.
Britain will not produce every mineral it consumes, nor should domestic mining replace diversified
international supply chains. Resilience comes from having more options.
Where Britain has the geology, skills, and capability to produce more of the minerals it needs
responsibly, it should do so.
Our mining heritage need not simply belong to Britain’s industrial past. Properly developed, it can
form part of the foundation of its industrial future.