Report of the UK Minerals Forum Security of Supply Working Group : 3rd September 2008

2. Concerns about the security of Britain’s supplies of raw materials have a long history. They were heightened at times of world conflict and political instability, stimulating innovation and renewed interest in indigenous mineral resources, but were by no means confined to such periods. After the Cold War and a long period when it was generally assumed, through globalisation, that ‘the market would provide,’ security of supply is once more a real concern. This has been primarily stimulated by the UK’s declining oil and gas reserves and the country’s rapid transition from energy self sufficiency and surplus to a major importer of oil and gas (and coal). The global economy is also changing. Rapidly increasing demand and competition for resources, particularly from emerging economies such as China and India, is resulting in price increases for a wide range of commodities and food. With increasing world population and rising aspirations, competition for resources will intensify. Suddenly we feel more vulnerable. Indeed ‘security’ in its widest sense, together with climate change, are becoming the defining themes of the start of the 21st century.