Onshore mineral resource maps
- Mineral resource maps in England and parts of South Wales
- Mineral resource maps in Scotland
- Mineral resource maps in Wales
- Aggregates safeguarding maps in Wales
- Mineral resource maps in Northern Ireland
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
The BGS was commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now Ministry for 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 is 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’ have been merged to produce an online Minerals Information GIS for each English region Regional Minerals Information Online.
The maps and associated reports can be downloaded using the links below:
County | Products | Date published | Ref. No. |
Bedfordshire | Report (862 kb) Map (4.31 Mb) |
1995 | WF/95/2 |
Berkshire (comprising West Berkshire, Reading, Wokingham, Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest and Slough) | Report (321 kb) Map (5.98 Mb) |
2004 | CR/03/074N |
Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes | Report (652 kb) Map (7.51 Mb) |
2004 | CR/03/77N |
Cambridgeshire (comprising Cambridgeshire and the City of Peterborough) | Report (765 kb) Map (9.04 Mb) |
2003 | CR/02/131N |
Cheshire (comprising Cheshire, Boroughs of Halton and Warrington) | Report (405 kb) Map (9.46 Mb) |
2006 | CR/05/090N |
Cornwall | Report (2.24 Mb) Map (6.80 Mb) |
1997 | WF/97/11 |
Cumbria and Lake District | Report (855 kb) 3 maps: |
2001 | WF/01/02 |
Derbyshire | Report (695 kb) Map (6.15 Mb) |
1995 | WF/95/3 |
Devon (comprising Devon, Plymouth, Torbay, Dartmoor National Park and part of Exmoor National Park) | Report (1011 kb) 2 maps North & South (21.6 Mb) |
2006 | CR/05/096N |
Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole | Report (433 kb) Map (13.3 Mb) |
2001 | WF/01/01 |
Durham and Tees Valley | Report (434 kb) Map (11.7 Mb) |
2000 | WF/00/6 |
East Sussex (comprising Brighton & Hove and East Sussex) | Report (332 kb) Map (7.19 Mb) |
2002 | CR/02/126N |
Essex (comprising Essex, Southend–on–Sea, Thurrock, London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham Forest) | Report (375 kb) Map (13.7 Mb) |
2002 | CR/02/127N |
Gloucestershire (comprising Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire) | Report (573 kb) Map (11.2 Mb) |
2006 | CR/05/105N |
Greater Manchester (comprising Cities of Manchester and Salford and Metropolitan Boroughs of Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan) | Report (659 kb) Map (7.11 Mb) |
2006 | CR/05/182N |
Hampshire (comprising Hampshire, City of Portsmouth and City of Southampton) | Report (1.64 Mb) Map (14.4 Mb) |
2003 | CR/02/129N |
Herefordshire & Worcestershire | Report (513 kb) Map (9.16 Mb) |
1999 | WF/99/4 |
Hertfordshire and Northwest London Boroughs | Report (513 kb) Map (9.16 Mb) |
2003 | CR/03/075/N |
Humberside (comprising East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and City of Kingston upon Hull) | Report (663 kb) Map (8.98 Mb) |
2005 | CR/04/227N |
Isle of Wight | Report (252 kb) Map (2.02 Mb) |
2002 | CR/02/130N |
Kent (comprising Kent, Medway and London Boroughs of Bexley and Bromley) | Report (401 kb) Map (17.6 Mb) |
2003 | CR/02/125N |
Lancashire (comprising Lancashire and Boroughs of Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen) | Report (999 kb) Map (10.9 Mb) |
2006 | CR/05/144N |
Leicestershire, City of Leicester and Rutland | Report (240 kb) Map (9.33 Mb) |
2002 | CR/02/24/N |
Lincolnshire | Report (1.24 Mb) Two maps: North & South (14.8 Mb) |
2003 | CR/02/128N |
London Boroughs | Map (8.55 Mb) |
2003 | |
Merseyside (comprising City of Liverpool and Boroughs of Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral) | Report (903 kb) Map (2.93 Mb) |
2005 | CR/05/129N |
Norfolk | Report (3.01 Mb) Map (17.8 Mb) |
2004 | CR/03/174N |
North Yorkshire (comprising North Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks and City of York) | Report (1.75 Mb) 2 maps East and west (22.6 Mb) |
2006 | CR/04/228N |
Northamptonshire | Report (556 kb) Map (5.20 Mb) |
2000 | WF/00/4 |
Northumberland and Tyne & Wear | Report (672 kb) 2 maps: North & south (18.2 Mb) |
2000 | WF/00/5 |
Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham | Report (637 kb) Map (8.8 Mb) |
2002 | CR/02/23/N |
Oxfordshire | Report (544 kb) Map (8.65 Mb) |
2004 | CR/04/62N |
Peak District National Park | Report (629 kb) Map (4.93 Mb) |
1995 | WF/95/4 |
Shropshire | Report (1.77 Mb) 2 maps Sand and gravel, Other minerals (11.3 Mb) |
1998 | WF/98/6 |
Somerset (comprising Somerset, North Somerset, Bath & North East Somerset, City of Bristol and part of Exmoor National Park) | Report (573 kb) Map (12.3 Mb) |
2005 | CR/04/214N |
South Wales | Report and 2 maps – Coal: Other minerals | 1997 | WF/97/10 |
South Yorkshire (comprising Metropolitan Boroughs of Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham and City of Sheffield) | Report (1.02 Mb) Map (4.79 Mb) |
2006 | CR/04/173N |
Staffordshire | Report (1.21 Mb) 2 maps Sand and gravel, Other minerals (11.1 Mb) |
1995 | WF/95/5 |
Suffolk | Report (1.11 Mb) Map (13.7 Mb) |
2003 | CR/03/076N |
Surrey (comprising Surrey and the London Boroughs of Croydon, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton) | Report (315 kb) Map (8.97 Mb) |
2003 | CR/03/073N |
Warwickshire | Report (611 kb) Map (8.42 Mb) |
1999 | WF/99/2 |
West Midlands | Report (440 kb) Map (8.42 Mb) |
1999 | WF/99/3 |
West Sussex | Report (1.41 Mb) Map (5.15 Mb) |
1998 | WF/98/5 |
West Yorkshire (comprising Metropolitan Boroughs of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield and City of Leeds) | Report (960 kb) Map(10.5 Mb) |
2006 | CR/04/172N |
Wiltshire (comprising Wiltshire and the Borough of Swindon) | Report (726 kb) Map (10.7 Mb) |
2004 | CR/04/049N |
Mineral resource maps in Scotland
The British Geological Survey (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 report, A guide to minerals information in the central belt of Scotland, and a series of 4 digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are available:
- Mineral Resource map for Clackmannanshire, Fife and Falkirk [3.94 Mb]
- Mineral Resource map for East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and City of Edinburgh [3.73 Mb]
- Mineral Resource map for North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire [4.92 Mb]
- Mineral Resource map for Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and City of Glasgow [6.44 Mb]
The maps show surface mineral resources, mineral working and the extent of selected national/international landscape and nature–conservation designations (National Parks, NSAs, SPAs, SACs SSSIs, NNRs, Ramsar sites and scheduled monuments).
Four major elements of information are presented on the summary maps:
- the geological distribution of all onshore mineral resources and 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)
Mineral resource maps in Wales
The British Geological Survey (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. A report, The Mineral Resource Maps of Wales, and a series of six digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are now available:
- Mineral Resource map for south east Wales [pdf 47.1 Mb]
- Mineral Resource map for south west Wales [pdf 31.8 Mb
- Mineral Resource map for north east Wales [pdf 35.4 Mb]
- Mineral Resource map for north west Wales [pdf 23.3 Mb]
- Mineral Resource map for mid Wales (south) [pdf 39.4 Mb]
- Mineral Resource map for mid Wales (north) [pdf 28.7 Mb]
The major elements of minerals information presented on the maps are:
- The geological distribution of all onshore (above low water mark) mineral resources in Wales
- The location of mineral extraction sites
- The recorded occurrences of metallic minerals
- The recorded location of former slate quarries and significant areas of slate waste
- The recorded location of historic building stone quarries
Aggregates safeguarding maps in Wales
As mineral resources are finite and are 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. A report, the Aggregates Safeguarding Maps of Wales, and a series of six digitally generated maps at a scale of 1:100 000 are now available:
- Aggregates Safeguarding map for south east Wales [pdf 115 Mb]
- Aggregates Safeguarding map for south west Wales [pdf 75 Mb]
- Aggregates Safeguarding map for north east Wales [pdf 84 Mb]
- Aggregates Safeguarding map for north west Wales [pdf 49 Mb]
- Aggregates Safeguarding map for mid Wales (south) [pdf 96 Mb]
- Aggregates Safeguarding map for mid Wales (north) [pdf 70 Mb]
Mineral resource maps in Northern Ireland
Following a commission from the Department of the Environment, the British Geological Survey and its counterpart the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland have 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:
- County Antrim and Belfast map [pdf 39 Mb]
- County Armagh map [pdf 14 Mb]
- County Down and Belfast [pdf 79 Mb]
- County Fermanagh [pdf 17 Mb]
- County Londonderry [pdf 27 Mb]
- County Tyrone [pdf 33 Mb]
The map has been produced by the collation and interpretation of mineral resource data principally held by the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland. The major elements of information presented on the map are:
- The geological distribution of all onshore (above low water mark) mineral resources
- The extent of mineral planning permission and their current planning status (extant or expired)
- The recorded occurrences of metallic minerals
- The recorded location of building stone quarries
- The extent of selected landscape and nature–conservation designations (SACs, SPAs, RAMSAR sites, AONBs, ASSIs, NNR and scheduled monuments) and planning designations (Area of Constraint on Mineral Developments)
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