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New paper published in Journal of Geochemical Exploration

The project has a new paper published in the Journal of Geochemical Exploration (JGE) on the extent and nature of legacy iron and steel wastes in the UK. The paper produces the first national estimate of iron and steel industry by-products and considers the potential of these deposits as a resource for critical raw materials and carbon capture. Many of these sites are located in low-lying coastal areas with particularly extensive deposits in iron and steel working areas of Cumbria, North Lincolnshire and the North East of England (the picture, right, shows iron and steel slag deposits on the Walney Channel at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria). The analysis also highlights the range of environmental sensitivities around legacy waste sites which include important conservation designations which need to be considered in any resource recovery operations. The article appears in a Special Issue in JGE on “The Role of Mine and Industrial Wastes in the Growing Demand for Mineral Resources” edited by Annika Parviainen, Manuel Caraballo and Robert Ayuso and is available open access here.

Last modified: Tue, 22 Mar 2022 16:25:52 GMT