Global mineral and metal statistics at the BGS
Andrew Bloodworth
BGS Science Director for Minerals and Waste
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100 years of global statistics
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Empire, global conflict
and confrontation
Adjusting to a new
World order
Minerals intelligence in a
resource-constrained
World
Origins
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Richard
Redmayne
©Sir
NERC
All rights
reserved
Imperial War Conference 1917 called
for ‘… an Imperial Body which should
be charged with the duties of
collecting information… …regarding
the Mineral Resources and Metal
Requirements of the Empire’
Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau
formed in 1919
‘The Mineral Industry of the British
Empire and Foreign Countries,
Statistical Summary (Production,
Imports and Exports’ 1913-1920
First comprehensive and systematic
dataset from outside UK
1913 start date provided a pre-war
comparison with statistics from conflict
years
Empire
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Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau became the
Mineral Resources Department of the Imperial
Institute in 1925
Attempts to develop inter-Imperial trade in mineral
raw materials
Supply security concerns (bromine, helium,
ferrochrome, talc, graphite, molybdenite)
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World War
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From 1940, many MRD staff
on ‘special duty’ with the
Ministry of Economic
Warfare
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Cold War created major concerns in
the West regarding security of
supply of ferro-alloy elements (Mn,
Co and Cr) and PGMs
Existing production heavily
concentrated in Soviet Union or its
client states, or in the RSA
National security concerns drove
stockpiling policy in USA and
research by IGS/ BGS ‘Mineral
Intelligence Unit’ related to criticality
assessment’
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Supply risk
Cold War
Most
critical
Economic importance
Globalisation
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Skorpion Zn mine, Namibia
In post-Cold War global free-market,
both primary and manufactured
goods flowed from producers with
lower marginal costs
Minerals benefitted from economies
of scale, bulk logistics, ?lower
environmental costs
A new World order?
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Booming World economy and double digit growth rates in
the BRICs between 2000-2008 drive a sustained minerals
‘supercycle’
Production of some metals becomes highly concentrated
As a result, old concerns about mineral resource security
start to re-emerge in the EU and other western economies
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Sao Paulo, Brazil
New technologies, new materials
Industrial metals
Precious metals
EU critical metals
Additional metals/
metalloids in mobile devices
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Critical path: UK resource security concerns
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Better together?
European collaboration
Current feasibility projects
• Minventory
• Minerals4EU
• Pan-European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI)
Issues
• Data availability – primary and secondary
• Data collection processes – especially resources and reserves
• Data harmonisation between Member States
• Long-term management and funding – what will constitute a
‘permanent body’?
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National interests (economic and security)
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Paradox of plenty – resources,
poverty and conflict
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Poor countries with an abundance of minerals usually have
worse development outcomes than those less well endowed
Links between minerals exploitation, corruption and conflict
Developmental, ethical and security concerns drive responses
including EITI, Kimberley, Dodd-Frank, Fair Trade Au etc.
Reliable and impartial statistical data and analysis is vital in
ensuring an effective International response and better
development outcomes
Source: BGS World Mineral Statistics
Total resource: A holistic approach to metal supply
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Increased worries about supply concentration/ disruption,
price volatility, long term availability
Step changes in technology (low carbon/ digital
economy, dematerialisation) are challenge to demand
prediction
How resilient are critical/ technology metal supply chains to
demand and supply ‘shocks’?
Mapping material flows reveals high levels of production
concentration, major material losses, low levels of recycling,
poor data
Reveals risks and helps identify most effective intervention
points
Introduce dynamic element which simulates impact of
changes in demand and/or supply
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Mineral statistics in a
resource-constrained World
The next 100 years, BGS mineral intelligence will:
• Continue to be driven by supply security concerns
• Strive (with others) for better metrics on both
primary and secondary resources
• Measure and understand how and where materials
flow and how these change over time
• Provide analysis and advice to inform policy and
the wider community on permitting, environment,
trade and research
• Deliver a reality check on relative importance of
primary and secondary resources
• Improve understanding of the resource
consequences of conspicuous consumption
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www.mineralsUK.com
With thanks to Jen Rodley, Teresa Brown and the
BGS Ore Deposits and Commodities Team
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