To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will state the organisations who have shown an interest in purchasing contents from the strategic mineral stockpile; and what financial return he hopes to obtain.

I am unable to state who has shown an interest in purchasing material from the stockpile for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the contents of the strategic mineral stockpile.

No. It is the Government's intention to sell the strategic mineral stockpile over the next two to three years while causing the minimum disruption to the market. Revealing the contents of the stockpile or giving an estimate of its value would have a deleterious effect on prices for those minerals listed or presumed to be in the stockpile.