News and events

Security of Supply of Mineral Resources Finale Meeting 2019, Thursday 9 May 2019, London

The final meeting of the NERC Security of Supply of Mineral Resources programme will celebrate and share its achievements to researchers and stakeholders at the Royal Society in London on Thursday 9 May 2019.

More information

Read the latest blog about the last SoS Minerals summer school

Read Cristina Villanova-de-Benavent's blog where she describes the activities the PhD students took part in this year as part of their final SoS Minerals summer school. It was held at the Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall with a focus on pathways to impact.

SoS RARE and GeoBus mineral playing cards

In conjunction with GeoBus, researchers on the SoS RARE project have developed two sets of game play cards that demonstrate the importance of REE deposits and the use of REE and associated elements. Download your free pack today and get playing.

Watch and share the SoS Minerals programme video

Watch and share with your network the SoS Minerals programme video http://www.bgs.ac.uk/videos.html. The introduction of the video was first aired at a policy workshop held at the House of Commons in March 2018.

Policy workshop held at House of Commons

A policy workshop was held at the House of Commons on Thursday 1 March 2018. The event was open to industry, NGOs, think tanks and policymakers. It was hosted by the All Parliamentary Party Group (APPG) on International Mining, on behalf of the SoS Minerals programme.

The aim of the workshop was to shed light on, and foster discussion around, the scientific investment and research required to advance current and future innovations in green energy. By opening up communications channels between the scientific and policy communities, the APPG International Mining, together with Security Supply of Mineral Resources programme, hoped to explore how focused research can better help the UK Government deliver its industrial strategy, contributing to a more sustainable and lucrative economy and supporting global efforts to counter climate change.

Darryn Quayle from the Department for International Development welcomed guests and researchers to the event. Darryn highlighted the importance of UK research for international mining. Sir Keith O'Nions, Chair of the British Geological Survey Board, gave the keynote presentation. This was followed by presentations from each of the four SoS Minerals projects.

• SoS Minerals programme video
• Blog by Laura Newsome
• Blog by Frances Wall, SoS RARE project

Watch Dr Dan Smith talk about tellurium and selenium – the TeASe project

Dr Dan Smith, Principal Investigator on the TeAse project, talks about what his project is doing for the Security of Supply of Minerals programme.

GeoBus for the Security of Supply of Mineral Resources programme

NERC is funding 'GeoBus' to support the engagement of industry and the public with the Security of Supply of Mineral Resources programme (SoS Minerals).

The SoS Minerals GeoBus will be run by the team at University of St Andrews who developed the original 'GeoBus' as an educational outreach project in 2012. This provided educational materials to support Earth science teaching in schools and worked to highlight careers in Earth science by providing a bridge between industry, higher education institutions and schools.

On SoS Minerals, GeoBus will work with researchers from the programme's four projects to co-ordinate industry and public engagement through organising industry workshops and exhibitions at science festivals. The intention is to incorporate the programme's research outcomes into materials for the workshops and exhibits that can then be re-used as educational resources within universities.

SoS MinErals – Programme Launch Event 10 and 11 November 2015, Natural History Museum, London

SoS MinErals will be holding a programme launch event on 10 and 11 November 2015 at the Natural History Museum, London. The programme researchers plus many of the partners and end users will be attending the launch event and the four projects will give presentations about the exciting science they will be delivering.

A Keynote Presentation will be given by Dr Bruce A. Moyer, of the Critical Materials Institute in the USA. Dr Moyer is the Diversifying Supply Focus Area Lead for the CMI. He is based at the Chemical Sciences Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he is Group Leader, Chemical Separations.

The programme launch is free to attend but please register online to reserve your place.

SoS MinErals PhD and post doc vacancies

There are still some PhD studentships and Post-Doctoral Research Associate positions available on the SoS MinErals Programme projects.

Fully-funded SoS RARE PhD studentships

Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter on The Production of Rare Earth Elements from Songwe, Malawi.
Apply Now! Closes: 14th September 2015.

University of Sheffield on Geochemical modelling of environmental processes in rare earth element mining.
Apply Now! Closes: 11th September 2015.

University of Leeds on engineering mineral models of actinides in rare-earth minerals.
Apply Now! Application deadline: 31 July 2015.

SoS MinErals programme launch event: November 2015

SoS MinErals is pleased to announce that they will be holding a programme launch event on November 10 and 11 2015 at the Natural History Museum to bring together the programme projects, researchers, partners and other stakeholders. If you would like to attend this free event please contact sosminerals@nerc.ac.uk

SoS MinErals programme announce grants awarded

SoS MinErals is delighted to announce the four projects that have been awarded grants from the programme along with their principal investigators: