HC Deb 16 November 1978 vol 958 cc333-4W
Mr. John H. Osborn

asked the Secretary of State for Industry what steps he is now taking to build up strategic reserves of key minerals for British industry; from information available to him what has been the value and weight of tungsten, vanadium, chromium, nickel, molyodenum and cobalt consumed or

1973 1974 1975 1976 1977
Tungsten (tonnes)
Ores and concentrates … 8,770 4,009 3,355 3,829 3,365
Tungsten content … 4,048 2,145 1,812 2,097 1,860
Ferro-alloys … 149 215 255 360 335
Unwrought and worked metal … 61 126 224 153 208
Total cif value … (£10.9m) (£10.8m) (£11.7m) (£20.0m) (£27.6m)
Vanadium (tonnes)
Oxides … 1,133 914 822 989 702
Ferro-alloys … 595 460 349 281 446
Unwrought and worked metal … * 19 11 17 59
Total cif value … * (£2.6m) (£2.8m) (£3.7m) (£4.0m)
Chromium (thousand tonnes)
Ores and concentrates … 199.2 138.1 144.4 137.7 197.6
Ferro-alloys … 77.4 67.9 65.0 108.4 77.2
Unwrought and worked metal … 0.1 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.1
Total cif value … (£14.0m) (£23.0m) * * (£38.4m)
Nickel (thousand tonnes)
Matte, speiss, etc. … 48.2 49.9 66.9 54.4 61.4
Sevap … 4.8 4.2 2.7 4.2 3.5
Ferro-alloys … 11.7 17.6 11.2 11.7 16.9
Unwrought metal … 23.9 24.2 23.9 20.7 21.5
Worked metal … 2.8 6.9 5.6 4.3 3.1
Total cif value … (£82.1m) (£108.5m) (£138.9m) (£160.4m) (£189.3m)
Molybdenum (tonnes)
Ores and concentrates … 11,234 10,569 13,528 13,617 13,934
Ferro-alloys … 872 727 650 834 880
Unwrought and worked metal … 164 196 166 133 162
Total cif value … (£12.3m) (£13.5m) (£20.9m) (£31.9m) (£43.2m)
Cobalt (tonnes)
Matte, speiss, etc. … 239 2,807 2,168 2,262 2,124
Unwrought and worked metal … 1,697
Oxides … 808 1,058 884 807 1,096
Total cif value … (£6.4m) (£11.1m) (£11.2m) (£15.8m) (£19.9m)
* Information not available.

purchased, respectively, in each of the past five years; and what estimates he has made of requirements over the next five years.

Mr. Cryer,

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 13th November 1978; Vol. 958, c. 53], gave the following information:

Responsibility for ensuring sufficient supplies and stocks of raw materials lies primarily with industry. The Government keep the position under continuous review and will take such steps as the situation demands.

Consumption of tungsten, vanadium, chromium, nickel, molybdenum and cobalt in the United Kingdom depends mainly on purchases from overseas, the only supplies from indigenous primary sources being small quantities of mined tungsten. Imports by weight and value in each of the last five years are given below. No comprehensive estimates of such imports over the next five years are available.

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