Once upon a time, the British Isles’ abundance of lead, copper, tin, iron and silver was enough to spark a Roman invasion. Two millennia later, mining is not a major force in the UK economy. Apart from some dwindling coal output, and a sprinkling of potash, tin and tungsten production, most of what we now dig out of the ground is construction aggregate.
But in another sense, the UK is home to one of the world’s major mining centres. That’s because London has long been a hub for natural resources investment; the location to which companies from all around the world flock for project financing and a trusted and stable legal system.