The Deep Digital Cornwall team wish to invite you to attend a workshop on “Geo-resources, Shared Prosperity and a Centre for Critical Minerals” at the Penryn Campus.

The workshop will include (delicious) complimentary refreshments and be held at 1-3pm on the 3rd of February for afternoon tea at the Sennen Suite in the TIC building, Penryn Campus, TR10 9FE. Note that remote attendance will also be possible if you can’t make it in person.

For ticketing, please see the Eventbrite link. Book your free ticket now to avoid disappointment!

The Cornwall Mining Alliance and the Deep Digital Cornwall Project cordially invite you to a workshop to learn about opportunities for Geo-resources in the CIoS Shared Prosperity Fund and to help co-create a new International Centre of Excellence in Critical Minerals. There will also be an opportunity to see DDC's 3D visualisation suite after the meeting.

The workshop will include:

  1. Discussion of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Shared Prosperity Fund opportunities for the geo-resources sector. Frances Wall represents the Geo-resources sector on the CIoS Prosperity Advisory Panel that provides local insight and expertise to help in delivery of the Shared Prosperity Fund and will lead a discussion on opportunities for companies across the sector who want to innovate, improve productivity and expand;
  2. Discussion of ideas for a Centre for Excellence in Critical Minerals* for the region, centred around Camborne School of Mines to ensure that our industry has the skills, talent, opportunities for innovation, R&D and national and international partnerships to secure the UK’s position in this competitive international market;
  3. An opportunity to network and chat with similar local businesses whilst enjoying complimentary breakfast/tea; and
  4. If you haven’t seen it yet, after the session, there will be a chance to visit the Deep Digital Cornwall 3D Visualisation Suite at Camborne School of Mines, Penryn Campus.

*Resilience for the Future: The UK’s critical minerals strategy, published by Government in July 2022 is the UK’s first ever Critical Minerals Strategy. It set out Government’s plan to secure the UK’s supply chains by:

  • Accelerating growth of the UK’s domestic capabilities;
  • Collaborating with international partners;
  • Enhancing international markets to make them more responsive, transparent and responsible.

The Strategy recognised that the UK has ‘pockets of mineral wealth’, and that it will be important to develop our domestic resources in a way that works for communities and the environment. Presently the UK largely relies on market forces to deliver a secure supply of minerals to UK industry.

Other countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, the US and those in the EU, are accelerating efforts to secure their own supplies. The Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy aims to ensure that the UK keeps pace.

Key to our low carbon future will be energy transition and this transition will be metals-intensive, for example an electric vehicle requires four times more copper than a conventional vehicle. We will therefore need to use more critical minerals and technology metals than ever before. The International Energy Agency estimates that up to 40 times more lithium and 20 times more cobalt will be needed by 2040.

The Deep Digital Cornwall project is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, led by the University of Exeter, in partnership with Cornish Lithium, Cornwall Resources and The South West Centre of Excellence in Satellite Applications.