Asked by: Alison Hume (Labour - Scarborough and Whitby)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will publish an updated version of the Critical Minerals Strategy that includes policies on promoting the use of polyhalite.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Building on the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre’s (CMIC) updated criticality assessment, government has worked hand in hand with industry to develop a new Critical Minerals Strategy this year. This new, targeted Critical Minerals Strategy will help secure our supply chains for the long term and drive forward the green industries of the future and will be published in the coming weeks.
CMIC assessed 82 candidate materials as part of its 2024 criticality assessment. Polyhalite, a combination of various minerals including potassium, was not one of these candidate materials. However, government is fully aware and acknowledges the importance of polyhalite to the UK.
As we plan for future criticality and growth assessments, we will look to evaluate which additional minerals and materials, such as polyhalite, will need to be in scope to reflect the UK economy’s growing demands amidst evolving global supply chain dynamics.