Working In The Industry
Industry Profile for the Extractive & Mineral Processing Industries
The extractive and mineral processing industries are vital to our everyday
lives as they provide us with places to live, work and play. These key
industries provide the essential raw materials for use by the construction
industry, agricultural, manufacturing and by the energy production industry.
Each year the industry supports:
- the building of 180,000 new homes
- £1.6 billion on school and university improvements
- a £1.15 billion hospital building programme
- maintenance of our 230,000-mile road and 10,000-mile rail networks
- a £1.7 billion programme of improvements to water services
- the continuing upgrading of UK airports
- supplies of special sands for glass foundry and other industries
- cleansing of emissions from coal-fired power stations
- the construction of lottery-supported arts and community projects
The industry employs approximately 49,000 direct employees across 700 companies with a further 20,000 indirect employees. The industry has operational sites in every local authority area in the United Kingdom. Approximately 10% of the industry is in Scotland, with 8% each in Wales and Northern Ireland. Principal areas are Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Somerset and Central Scotland.
Annual production exceeds 250 million tonnes, of which over 90% is used in the construction industry, the remainder being used widely including in the production of paints, inks, paper, concrete products, glass, pottery and ceramics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, fertilisers, metals, plastics, cosmetics, toothpaste. Total value exceeds £6 billion.
The industry has committed itself to minimising the call on primary aggregates and is investing heavily in facilities which will maximise the proportion of recycled and secondary aggregates. Britain leads Europe in the race to recycle with these materials now accounting for around a quarter of Great Britain’s aggregate market.
Extraction is by one of three methods:
Quarrying
In terms of the number of working sites, numbers employed and volume of output, aggregates is, by far, the largest sub-sector producing over 200 million tonnes per year. There are more than 1,400 sites through Great Britain and Northern Ireland .
Dredging
In the UK this is primarily sands and gravels for construction aggregates from seabed deposits particularly the North Sea, English and Bristol Channel. Some inland sand deposits are extracted from barges operating from lagoons operated by quarries with a very high water table.
Mining
In this country mining currently includes: coal; salt; potash; gypsum; silica sand; dimensional stone. UK Coal and Scottish Coal are by far the largest producers of coal both mined and open cast. UK Coal employs 4,200 employees in total operating across 6 deep mines and 5 open cast mines. The largest single mine is Cleveland Potash (Boulby Mine) extracting potash and rock salt from off the Yorkshire coastline.
Employment and Career Opportunities
The industry is keen to attract, employ and retain the best people available by offering competitive salaries, benefits and safe working environments. Employers are committed to developing employees to attain their full potential by investing in training and continuing professional and personal growth. The industry offers a wealth of job and career opportunities ranging from: mining, civil, mechanical and industrial engineering, geology, estate management, logistics, contracting, operations and production, environment, planning and development, health and safety, finances, IT, sales, marketing and HR; with just a very few of these opportunities for the quarrying industry highlighted here in this document.
