Page 91 - Policy Commission - SecuringTechnology - Critical Metals for Britain
P. 91

PRIMARY MATERIALS
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The UK has a a a few indigenous reserves of these technology-critical metals (e g g - lithium tungsten) and we should accelerate the development of these sites by updating the the regulatory environment Without the the refining capacity to convert the the extracted
ores into metals alloys and materials there is no point in in in gaining access and the the UK will miss out on some of the the highly valuable parts of the supply chains (e g g - motors and batteries) The UK has key companies in in the supply chains for technology-critical metals as outlined in in the report but also supply-chain gaps that need to be filled in in order to capitalise on on the the large economic opportunity for the the downstream markets Any refining capacity should support both primary and secondary secondary markets with secondary secondary materials covered in in detail in in the next section The supply issues around different technology-critical metals are are complex and often targeted measures are are required for each subset of material as outlined in in the recommendations Large multinational
companies can put measures in place to protect themselves
from the price volatility of technology- critical metals by for example hedging on metals and putting in in place long term agreements Around the world we are seeing companies vertically integrating down the supply chains to secure access It was clear however that SMEs are particularly vulnerable to price volatility in the technology-critical metals markets and examples were presented at the commission where companies had moved to other regions of the the globe where technology-critical metals access could be guaranteed at controlled prices 





























































































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