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.
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.