Onshore mineral resource maps

Minerals are essential for the development of a modern economy, but their extraction is subject to environmental and other constraints. Bringing together minerals, environmental and other land-use information in an integrated system allows more effective and sustainable management strategies to be developed.

• mineral resource maps in England and parts of South Wales
• mineral resource maps in Northern Ireland
• mineral resource maps in Scotland
• mineral resource maps in Wales
• aggregates safeguarding maps in Wales

Mineral resource maps in England and parts of South Wales

The BGS was commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), through the research project ‘Mineral resource information in support of national, regional and local planning’, to prepare a series of ‘county’ mineral resource maps. This work was completed in early 2006 and a series of digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are available. These maps cover 44 administrative areas or groups of administrative areas, giving information for the whole of England and parts of South Wales.

Four major elements of information are presented on the summary maps:

• the geological distribution of all onshore mineral resources
• the location of mineral extraction sites
• the extent of mineral planning permissions and licences for coal extraction
• the extent of selected landscape and nature-conservation designations (National Parks, AONBs, SSSIs, NNRs and scheduled monuments)

A primary objective was to produce baseline data in a consistent format that can be updated, revised and customised to suit planning needs, including for use in the preparation of mineral development plan documents and regional spatial strategies.

All the data on the ‘county maps’ has been merged to produce an online minerals information GIS for each English region. The maps and associated reports can be downloaded:

Mineral resource maps in Northern Ireland

Following a commission from the Department of the Environment, BGS and its counterpart the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland (GSNI) produced a mineral resources map of Northern Ireland. The map is intended to assist strategic decision making in respect of mineral extraction and the protection of important mineral resources against sterilisation. Six digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 scale are now available:

Mineral resource maps in Scotland

BGS was awarded a grant from the Scottish Government Aggregates Levy Fund in 2007 to provide a comprehensive, relevant and accessible information base to enhance the sustainability of mineral resources for 18 local authorities in the central belt of Scotland. BGS co-funded this project through its Sustainable Mineral Solutions project. This work was completed in March 2008. A guide to minerals information in the central belt of Scotland and a series of found digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are available:

Mineral resource maps in Wales

BGS was awarded a grant from the Welsh Government-administered Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund for Wales in 2009 to provide a comprehensive, relevant and accessible information base to enhance the sustainability of mineral resources in Wales. BGS co-funded this project through its Sustainable Mineral Solutions team, part of the Minerals and Waste science programme. This work, which was led from the BGS Cardiff office, was completed in July 2010. The mineral resource maps of Wales and a series of six digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are now available:

Aggregates safeguarding maps in Wales

As mineral resources are finite and not evenly distributed, knowledge about their whereabouts is essential for making effective and sustainable planning decisions that consider the needs of future generations. Access to mineral resources can be prevented or restricted (sterilised) by non-mineral development and the process of ‘mineral safeguarding’ ensures that this does not occur unnecessarily when planning applications are determined. An effective safeguarding system requires the adoption of ‘mineral safeguarding areas’ and the adoption of suitable policies through which development is managed in these areas.

The aggregates safeguarding maps have been compiled to assist mineral planning authorities (MPAs) in the delineation of aggregates safeguarding areas in local development plans. The aggregates safeguarding maps of Wales and a series of six digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are now available: