Critical Minerals for Resilience and Sustainability
MINERS is a research project based at UCL's Institute for Sustainable Resources, funded by UKRI. We work with partners across academia, industry, and government to enhance the resilience and sustainability of critical mineral supply chains, with a particular focus on UK-Canada collaboration.
Working paper summarising early results across the three MINERS workstreams: a resilience framework for critical mineral supply chains, whole-system material flows for lithium and nickel, and a global mapping of over 600 critical minerals policies. Presented at the project's first stakeholder event in London (January 2026).
Read the ReportWorking paper. Please do not cite.
Critical minerals are essential to technologies such as batteries, magnets and renewable energy, but their supply chains face high disruption risks amid rapid regulatory changes, ESG demands and growing geopolitical tensions.
For the UK, rising demand for minerals has exposed vulnerabilities and highlighted the need for resilient, traceable and sustainable supply chains. However, major gaps remain in understanding global material flows and embodied environmental and economic impacts.
Three interconnected workstreams addressing critical minerals challenges
Building an evidence base for the integrated assessment of complex critical minerals supply chains to identify resource circularity potential and reduction of economic and environmental damage.
Learn more →Providing clarity over the complex regulatory, ESG, and reporting landscape covering critical minerals to examine the role of different stakeholders and institutional frameworks.
Learn more →Defining policy levers to shift away from unsustainable mining and industrial practices, resulting in demonstrable advances in knowledge and partnerships across academia, industry, and government.
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