§ Mr. Hardyasked the Secretary of State for Industry what steps he is taking to promote the domestic production of tungsten and chromium; and what is his estimate of the value of these resources available within the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. CryerMy Department funds a comprehensive programme of minerals intelligence designed to promote the economic development of our indigenous resources. This includes reconnaissance programmes, which aim at providing necessary geological information on which subsequent minerals exploration by companies can be based; and the Mineral Exploration and Investment Grants Act 1972, under which the Department is empowered to pay contributions of not more than 35 per cent. towards expenditure incurred on searching for or discovering and testing certain mineral deposits—including tungsten and chromite—in Great Britain and on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf.
Tungsten reserves in the United Kingdom are currently believed to be of the order of 10,000 tonnes, but as no economic deposit of chromite has yet been identified no figures are available for chromium.