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How much does it cost the earth to maintain your lifestyle?
A new web resource from the British Geological Survey clearly shows how we all continue to depend on mineral resources to maintain our lifestyles.
Over a lifetime, each one of us will consume about 35 lorry-loads of minerals and metals. The average person in the UK uses around 10 tonnes of minerals and metals every year. This includes the minerals needed to build our homes and manufacture all our household possessions, as well as the minerals, metals and fuels used in our industrial, retail, transport, leisure, health and public sectors.
A new web resource has been created by the British Geological Survey (BGS) to provide information to the non-specialist on minerals. The Minerals & you web pages were launched at the Annual International Meeting of the Mineral Deposit Studies Group on 3rd January 2008 at the BGS site in Keyworth, Nottingham and can be found on the MineralsUK website at http://www.mineralsuk.com
"Minerals are essential to our modern lifestyle - if it can't be grown, it has to be mined. These pages show that, despite massive increases in recycling, minerals and metals are vital components in our lives, used to make everything from mobile phones and cars to houses and roads" says Andrew Bloodworth, Head of Science for Minerals at the British Geological Survey.
The extraction of minerals inevitably has an impact on the environment. The Minerals & you web pages explain the importance of careful planning of mineral extraction, mine and quarry restoration and the sustainable use of resources, including recycling, reusing, and conserving energy.
Minerals & you also describes what economic minerals are and gives a summary of how mineral deposits are formed and developed for use by all of us. Users can see what a lifetime's supply of minerals and metals looks like and learn why these are so important to all of us.
*Ends*
Notes for Editors
* MineralsUK is the British Geological Survey's Centre for Sustainable Mineral Development. The website at http://www.mineralsuk.com
* http://www.mineralsuk.com contains a wealth of information on mineral resources, mineral planning, policy and legislation, sustainable development, statistics and exploration.
* The British Geological Survey (BGS), a part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), is the nation's principal supplier of objective, impartial and up-to-date geological expertise and information for decision making for governmental, commercial and individual users. The BGS carries out research in strategically important areas including energy and natural resources, vulnerability to environmental change and hazards, and earth system science, often in collaboration with the national and international scientific academic community. In this way BGS maintains and develops understanding of earth sciences to improve policy making, enhance national wealth and reduce risk. More http://www.bgs.ac.uk
Dr. Marie Cowan
Team Leader - Communications
British
Geological Survey
Web http://www.bgs.ac.uk
