Asked by: Mark Jenkinson (Conservative - Workington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what impact a presumption against issuing any further Hydraulic Fracturing Consents on the basis of potential seismic events may have on (a) sourcing geothermal energy and (b) exploration for lithium and other minerals.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Infrastructure Act 2015 set out provisions for ‘associated hydraulic fracturing’ where it is defined as hydraulic fracturing of shale or strata encased in shale for the purposes of searching for or extracting petroleum or natural gas. The presumption against issuing any further Hydraulic Fracturing Consents on the basis of potential seismic events should therefore have no impact on sourcing geothermal energy or the exploration for lithium and other minerals.
The control and mitigation of induced seismicity for deep geothermal projects is based on the British Standard BS 6472-2 (BSI, 2008), which defines limits for acceptable levels of ground vibrations caused by blasting and quarrying, and other local planning authority guidelines for blasting, quarrying, and mining. These thresholds are defined in terms of measured ground velocity rather than seismicity.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help encourage (a) domestic critical minerals exploration and (b) mining finance in the UK.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The Government will publish a UK Critical Minerals Strategy in 2022, setting out our approach to securing technology-critical minerals and metals. This will take into account the types of support offered by other nations and input from the Critical Minerals Expert Committee.
Funds such as the Automotive Transformation Fund, National Security Strategic Investment Fund, UK Infrastructure Bank, UK Export Finance, and R&D via the National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research are available to support investments at various points along the critical minerals value chain in specific sectors. For example, Cornish Lithium has received support via the Getting Building Fund (2020) and Automotive Transformation Fund (2021) and British Lithium has received grant funding from Innovate UK (2020) and the Sustainable Innovation Fund (2021).
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to ensure that companies listed in the UK which are engaged in lithium mining in the UK do not fall under the control of the Government of the People's Republic of China.
Answered by Greg Hands
Mergers and takeovers are primarily commercial matters for the parties involved. The Government has powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 to intervene in transactions which raise national security concerns. The Government has recently strengthened those powers through the National Security and Investment Act 2021.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to improve domestic critical minerals supply, with specific regard to (a) mineral rights and (b) planning applications.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK is supporting opportunities to secure the domestic extraction of critical materials, such as lithium. For example, we are supporting Cornish Lithium and Geothermal Engineering, who are collaborating to build a zero-carbon lithium extraction pilot plant at an existing site in Cornwall.
The UK is also playing a crucial role in ensuring that strong environmental standards are upheld in the growing deep sea mining industry, to ensure that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) regulatory regime effectively protects these ecosystems for years to come.
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that it is essential that there is a sufficient supply of minerals to provide the infrastructure, buildings, energy and goods that the country needs. The NPPF states that mineral planning authorities should plan for a steady and adequate supply of industrial minerals, including by encouraging safeguarding or stockpiling so that important minerals remain available for use. The NPPF states that when determining planning applications, great weight should be given to the benefits of mineral extraction, including to the economy.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps she is taking to attract critical mineral companies to (a) invest in UK businesses and (b) set up business in the UK.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for International Trade (DIT) and partners in other Departments are working together to identify and target critical minerals extractive, processing and refining companies to invest in the UK, with a focus on the critical raw materials required to deliver Industrial Strategy objectives. Our Foreign Direct Investment strategy is similarly focused on securing investment in the extraction and, crucially, processing of these commodities. This includes support for the development of indigenous resources, such as lithium in Cornwall, through our Mining High Potential Opportunity programme, along with driving processing capacity.
Asked by: Bill Wiggin (Conservative - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he has made an assessment of the potential merits of mining lithium in the UK to produce responsibly sourced electric vehicle batteries.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
In order to meet the anticipated global demand for batteries for electric vehicles, production needs to increase significantly worldwide. Lithium and associated Li-ion technology is a key component. The Faraday Battery Challenge is supporting the increase in production of current Li-ion technology - from early stage research, through innovation, to scale-up - to help position the UK to best capture this market.
The Faraday Battery Challenge is looking at the feasibility of extracting lithium in the UK, including in Scotland and Cornwall. Research suggests that domestic sources of lithium have the potential to provide a substantial portion of the UK’s future demand, allowing us to develop a domestic, environmentally responsible, lithium supply. In order to ensure that the full value that we expect this new industry to generate is captured in the UK, it is essential to build the rest of the downstream supply chain domestically, so that battery-quality chemicals and batteries can also be produced here.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the sustainability of sourcing rare earths for battery technology.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government is aware of the socioeconomic, environmental and supply concerns surrounding the mining of raw materials for electric vehicle (EV) batteries and is taking steps to address these.
The Government has committed £274m into the Faraday Battery Challenge (FBC) to support the research, development and scale-up of world-leading battery technology in the UK.
This include research to make better use of global resources and support a more circular economy; for example, by reducing the amount of critical raw materials, such as cobalt, that are used in EV batteries, and localising more of the battery supply chain to the UK. The Faraday Institution’s £10m ‘ReLiB’ (Reuse and Recycling of Lithium-ion Batteries) research project is developing the technological, economic and legal infrastructure to allow close to 100% of the materials in lithium-ion batteries to be reused or recycled at the end of their first life. Through the Faraday Institution, the UK participates in the Global Battery Alliance: a World Economic Forum initiative seeking to accelerate action towards a socially responsible, environmentally sustainable and innovative battery value chain.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) social and (b) environmental effect on the (i) Democratic Republic of Congo and (ii) other similar countries of increasing demand for (A) cobalt, (B) lithium and (C) other elements in battery manufacture.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The UK is at the forefront of international efforts to address the problems associated with mining and conflict minerals. This includes through the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for diamonds; the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights around mines; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Due Diligence Guidance for the responsible sourcing of minerals; and the Modern Slavery Act.
Both the UK and The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are members of the Extractives International Transparency Initiative (EITI). The EITI is the global standard for the good governance of oil, gas and minerals, which sets out what information on extractives should be publicly available. The DRC is making progress with timely disclosure of this information.
Increased demand for minerals, including cobalt and lithium, has seen many people in the DRC take to working as artisanal miners to earn a living, often illegally. Working conditions are frequently unsafe and exploitative. Reports of widespread child labour are of particular concern. The mining industry is better regulated in Zambia and companies accused of abuses have faced legal action. The UK is funding projects on the prevention of child labour in artisanal mines and on remediation work for victims of slavery in the extractive sector.
Pollution caused by mining activity has led to environmental degradation and resource depletion across Africa. Illegally mined minerals are frequently smuggled out of the DRC to neighbouring countries such as Rwanda and Burundi. Environmental accountability is difficult to enforce upon these illegal operations.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what the criteria are for the provision of grants under the Faraday Battery Challenge, established under the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, for the development and production of battery technology; and, in particular, what emphasis is given, if any, in those criteria, to the improvement of environmental and working conditions in those regions involved in the mining and production of lithium and other battery components, both now and in the future.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Faraday Battery Challenge is a competitive fund delivered coherently by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Innovate UK and the Advanced Propulsion Centre, joining up the stages of technology development from fundamental research, through innovation to industrial scale-up. Its focus is on the development of new and improved battery technology to address the challenges of future electric vehicles and other applications. The scope of the programme includes the environmental challenges of longer first life, recyclability and reuse of batteries. Upstream issues such as mining are out of scope of the programme.
Asked by: Scott Mann (Conservative - North Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he will consider the mining of Lithium in Cornwall as part of the industrial strategy.
Answered by Claire Perry
Our Industrial Strategy is about driving growth right across the whole country. We will work with places to build on their particular strengths and to address barriers to growth.
The Government is aware that Cornwall has been identified as a having potentially valuable lithium resource, which is a key element in battery technology. That technology has great potential, which we are backing with £246m through a Faraday Challenge to boost expertise in the UK.
The current exploration for lithium ore reserves and research to extract lithium from geothermal brines has potential to provide a UK source, though it is for the private sector to demonstrate there are commercial opportunities and this sort of opportunity, clearly linked to a location, underpins the department’s local industrial strategy policy.