The Mineral Exploration and Investment Grants Act 1972 (MEIGA) provided a stimulus for mineral exploration in the UK. Under the Act, the Government’s Department of Trade and Industry gave grants for mineral exploration for non-ferrous metals, fluorspar, barium minerals and potash. Compiled largely during the 1970s and 1980s, reports detailing the exploration undertaken contain a rich variety of information, including geological mapping, soil and stream sediment geochemistry, geophysical surveys, drillcore logs and assay data.

Previously, these ‘MEIGA’ reports were only available to view in hard copy through BGS’s National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC). In 2023, a digitisation programme, carried out in collaboration with the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre (CMIC), released an initial batch of over 200 . A further release of digitised reports this year (2026) has meant that an additional 660 reports have been added to the accessible collection, ensuring that data collected over forty years ago is openly available and newly relevant for identifying critical and precious metal resource potential within the UK.

The significance of this release is already being demonstrated in the Ardlochan area of south-west Scotland. At the end of 2025, completed a in the area, which discovered a large, vertical tube of broken rock (a ‘breccia pipe’ system) that was at least 140 m wide and rich in gold. The company then drew on MEIGA materials, originally generated by exploration companies Noranda Mining Limited and Phelps Dodge in the 1970s and 1980s, to complement its own surveys and recent drilling in order to target other sites of interest.

The MEIGA dataset for Ardlochan is already playing a key role in refining a new generation of exploration targets, especially those associated with gold-rich porphyry–breccia systems. A major advantage of the datasets is that they capture Ardlochan at a time when the area was largely unforested. This allowed for far more detailed bedrock mapping than is possible today and provides a clearer geological framework from which to work.

Just as importantly, the reports offer insight into the exploration concepts and decision making used by major operators in the 1970s and 1980s. These companies invested heavily in systematic regional work, identifying features and prospects that were subsequently forgotten as corporate priorities shifted. Integrating these historic insights with modern techniques is enabling us to rebuild the geological story of Ardlochan and accelerate target development with a level of confidence that would not otherwise be possible.

Calum Lyell, Western Gold Exploration.

Exploration can be very expensive and uncertain, often requiring companies to repeat baseline surveys to establish context. By providing open access to MEIGA reports, BGS (through CMIC and the NGDC) is helping to reduce duplicate efforts, enabling more targeted investment. For smaller firms, this pre-competitive data supports innovation and lowers barriers to entry.

The digitisation of BGS archive documents is a major effort in valorising legacy datasets that can have a major impact at minimal cost for the exploration sector. We are continuously working towards refining accessibility to these documents, notably applying various machine learning methods to automate the extraction of data contained in these pages to make them publicly available, as well as developing large language models for personalised, one-to-one interaction with the archived volumes.

Pierre Josso, deputy director, CMIC.

For the National Geoscience Data Centre, the renewed impact of the MEIGA archive demonstrates exactly why long‑term stewardship of geoscience data matters. Historic materials only realise their full value when they are preserved, digitised and made accessible. Funding the systematic scanning of these legacy collections is essential not only to safeguard the record, but also to ensure that insights captured decades ago can actively inform modern exploration, reduce duplication of effort and unlock new scientific and economic opportunities. The success at Ardlochan shows that well‑curated archives don’t just tell the story of past work; they directly enable the discoveries of today.

Alison Steven, data operations and governance lead, NGDC at BGS.

Ukraine and the UK have reaffirmed their strategic partnership with the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on geological science and resource development. The agreement underscores a shared commitment to Ukraine’s long-term economic recovery while deepening bilateral ties. Amid increasing global demand for critical minerals essential for technologies such as renewable energy systems, batteries and electronics, it also signals a growing focus on the role of natural resources in strengthening economic resilience and energy security.

The MoU focuses on expanding collaboration between the geological surveys of both the UK and Ukraine in areas such as digital transformation, research and institutional capacity strengthening. By enhancing cooperation across these areas, both countries aim to improve their understanding of geological resources while fostering more effective and modern approaches to managing them.

The MoU also coincides with the presentation of Ukraine’s new Critical Minerals Strategy, which the UK helped to develop, further demonstrating its commitment to Ukraine’s long-term economic and industrial future.

The MoU represents far more than a formal partnership. At a time when global challenges demand collective action, the strengthening of scientific and technical ties between our institutions is both timely and essential. This agreement reflects our shared belief that science can be a powerful bridge between countries and our shared commitment to not only scientific excellence but also growth, resilience and long-term prosperity.

Dr Maggy Heintz, director of BGS International Geoscience

Over 95 per cent of the water supply for the Tweed catchment, home to Berwick-upon-Tweed, is provided by groundwater. The Fell Sandstone Formation is the principal aquifer supplying drinking water, as well as being a vital resource for farming and industry in the region. Careful management of this critical resource is particularly important in a changing climate.

Climate projections indicate that, by 2050, the north-east of England may see summer and winter rainfall at 31 per cent lower and 25 per cent higher than current averages, respectively. Drier summers and wetter winters will affect the water balance in the aquifer, so understanding and accounting for the anticipated changes are critical in ensuring sustainable abstraction.

Nearly a century on from the last geological survey of the Berwick-upon-Tweed area, the Environment Agent (EA) commissioned BGS to review the geological map of the area to inform a new groundwater flow model of the Fell Sandstone Formation. This work was needed to improve understanding of the regional groundwater system, strengthen the evidence base for water security and support key decisions in the abstraction licensing strategy.

Ultimately, the mapping of the aquifer will help the EA, water abstractors and the local community to ensure sustainable abstraction and reduce risks from contamination to protect the water quality. This informed management will help to ensure the water supplies for Berwick-upon-Tweed are resilient to climate change.

We have commissioned the British Geological Survey to undertake this new survey of the Fell Sandstone Formation and surrounding strata to help us undertake our regulatory role in protecting groundwater underlying Berwick and the surrounding area.

The updated mapping will improve our understanding of the regional groundwater system and any implications on the future availability of water and climate change impacts. This will help in considering applications for new abstraction licences or renewals and/or increases of existing abstraction licences, where we require good quality and up-to-date information on the water environment.

Diane Steele, senior north-east area groundwater technical specialist, EA.

The new geological mapping and groundwater modelling have revealed that the local aquifer system is more complex than previously thought, with compartmentalisation of the groundwater system within the Fell Sandstone Formation aquifer as well as connectivity between the aquifer and water-bearing sandstone bodies in the adjacent rock formations. This work is informing a programme of borehole drilling by the EA to further develop our understanding of the interactions between water-bearing sandstones in Fell Sandstone Formation and underlying strata, and the implications for future water supply.

The new geological maps are being used as inputs for groundwater modelling, which is a key tool to better understand the controls on groundwater flow within the aquifer. Developing our understanding of the connectivity within the aquifer system is critical for assessing the effects of abstractions and evaluating the potential impacts of both changes in usage and changes in climate, helping to ensure the groundwater resource can support the region well into the future.

Tim Kearsey, head of BGS Integrated Geology.

The geological map data produced from this work will form part of the national geological map and will be freely accessible via the  in its next update. More information on the mapping of Berwick-upon-Tweed can be found on .

The new BGS GeoClimate data product provides information on the potential for clay shrink-swell subsidence under multiple climate scenarios.

Soils and rocks with high clay content are prone to absorbing water when wet, causing them to expand. As these deposits dry out, they contract, reducing in size. These changes produce ground movement which can cause overlying property and infrastructure to move and shift, often resulting in costly structural damages. Signs of subsidence include cracks in walls, ceilings and other built structures.

This natural hazard presents a significant growing economic cost – In 2025, the UK experienced the warmest Spring on record, and the driest in more than 50 years. As a result, in the first six months of 2025, subsidence-related insurance claims in the UK totalled £153 million (ABI, 2025). Climate change projections indicate that hotter, drier conditions are likely to become increasingly frequent over the coming century, exacerbating subsidence susceptibility.

BGS GeoClimate identifies where susceptibility to shrink-swell subsidence is likely to change, considering 1:50 000 scale BGS geological data and the highest available resolution climate change projections, CHESS-SCAPE from UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UK CEH). These are explicitly derived from UKCP18 regional climate model outputs. This new version of GeoClimate improves upon previous iterations providing outputs for more Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and a larger number of time periods.

Webinar agenda:

• Introduction to the new GeoClimate dataset
• Review of the methodology and input datasets
• Demonstration of data format, coverage, and resolution
• Potential applications and user case studies
• Q&A with BGS research scientists and products team
  a download of questions and responses from the Q&A is now available.
  

Who should attend:

This webinar will be of interest to:

• Anyone working with climate data and geospatial decision‑support tools continually refine how it identifies and manages supply risks for its material needs.
• Banks and mortgage lenders
• Insurers and risk modellers
• Conveyancers and property reporters
• Infrastructure managers e.g. transport, utilities
• Local, regional and national planners and policy makers
• Engineering and environmental consultants supporting climate resilience and adaptation
  

The BGS BritPits dataset contains more than 264 000 records of onshore mineral workings located in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The data includes active, inactive, dormant and ceased sites, as well as a range of mineral operations including mines, quarries and onshore oil and gas fields, together with wharfs and rail depots handling mineral products and industrial processes. Each record describes an onshore mineral working in terms of its name, operational status, geographical location, Mineral Planning Authority (MPA), operator, geology, worked mineral commodity and a range of relevant metadata.

Three levels of BGS BritPits data are available. The open-source index is based on the full BritPits dataset but contains index level information only, including the name, status and location of the working. This can be accessed as a Web Map Service (WMS) layer or via the . The other two levels are available as licensed datasets.

• The open-source index package is available under an Open Government Licence
• The full dataset includes all the entries of the BGS BritPits database, including historic sites; this data is also available for specific Mineral Planning Areas
• A subset of the full dataset that contains only the active, inactive and dormant mines and quarries (over 5200 entries)

These datasets are updated every year. The latest version, released in February 2026, contains 264 549 records, an increase from 262 814 records in the previous version.

This data will be of use to organisations in the public and private sector who have an interest in the location of mineral extraction sites and their possible after-use. For example, the data has been supplied to:

• national and local governments for use in planning and statistical studies
• non-governmental organisations for environmental and conservation planning
• commercial organisations for analysis of resource potential and legacy operations

Ground investigation (GI) work is routinely carried out to assess ground conditions and identify ground hazards prior to the construction of new buildings and infrastructure projects. The UK construction sector invests approximately Â£1.2 billion per year in GI, yet unforeseen ground conditions still cause significant delays and overspend, estimated at 10 per cent of project costs or £120 million per year.

Additional funding has been secured from the  to expand BGS’s pioneering Common Ground project. This initiative aims to develop a national geotechnical properties data service, maximising the return on GI investment and reducing risk, increasing efficiency and unlocking the value of GI data for the UK construction sector. 

Following the success of the project’s first phase, the new funding will enable BGS to build on pilot geotechnical data tools that were developed for Glasgow to deliver a national-scale geotechnical data service that combines geotechnical data with geological knowledge.

As BGS moves forward with this exciting phase, we remain committed to delivering solutions that maximise the return on investment in GI data, reduce carbon emissions and support a more resilient and efficient construction industry.

Alison Steven, data operations and governance manager at BGS.

Ensuring that users remain at the heart of product development, our partners, , will be conducting further market research and will develop a strategy to help BGS provide an authoritative data service with the functionality that suits the end user. 

The knowledge asset underpinning this project, the BGS National Geotechnical Properties Database (NGPD), contains data from approximately 200 000 boreholes, consolidated, validated and verified by BGS experts.

If you are a user or producer of GI data and would like to be involved in the project please get in touch with the Common Ground team.

Geologists at BGS have completed a major update to the geological map of the Yorkshire Wolds, where the underlying rocks and sediments play a vital role as natural reservoirs for the region’s underground water resources.

The distinctive white chalk rock of the , which forms the magnificent coastal cliffs, is also present beneath the wolds. The chalk is an ‘aquifer’ and is important as the primary drinking-water source for the area. The new geological mapping will provide detailed and accurate information to inform decision making around the use of groundwater resources.

The geology of some of the area was last mapped in the 1800s, before modern understanding of the impact of tectonics (movement of the ’plates’ that make up the Earth’s crust) on the chalk and before information about differences in the properties of the chalk layers was recorded. At that time, there was no satellite data and underground data was limited, so maps were mostly based on ground observations, with much of it done from horseback! The new mapping provides updated geological data and information for the region and plays a central role in the current BGS national geological mapping programme.

The five-year project involved different remote techniques, including interpretation of 2D seismics (information from small, controlled vibrations that create waves through the rock, which can then be used to map the subsurface), digital elevation models, aerial imagery and borehole records along with field surveys and palaeontological (fossil) analysis. Collectively, these methods and data have significantly improved geological understanding of the chalk aquifer.

The aquifer currently faces a number of pressures, including:

• increased water demand from a growing population as well as industrial uses
• risk of nitrate contamination from agricultural land practices
• risk of salt water from the Humber estuary reaching the aquifer and mixing with drinking water
• improvements to habitats, for example chalk streams

We need to better understand and model how water flows in the Chalk aquifer and the interaction between springs, rivers and abstraction. The new mapping delivers enhanced knowledge that will help to improve regional understanding of both the aquifer and the groundwater resources, as well as localised geological issues that may assist in reducing risks to specific water supply assets, such as water abstraction sites.

Over the past hundred years since the geology of the Yorkshire Wolds was last mapped, our ability to better understand what lies beneath our feet has vastly improved thanks to technological advances and a modern understanding of geology. The updated geological maps will help companies, farmers, local planners and regulators make more informed decisions around the management and protection of the chalk aquifer in the Yorkshire Wolds.

The data also provides a solid geological framework to underpin future work to help mitigate present and future issues faced in the Yorkshire Wolds, including drought, coastal erosion, water quality and saline intrusion into the aquifer.

Laura Burrel Garcia, survey geologist at BGS.

The project was a collaboration between the Environment Agency (EA), Yorkshire Water Services Limited (YWS) and BGS. Recently, EA, YWS and WSP attended BGS’s headquarters in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire, to discuss the conclusion of the project and its outcomes.

The team at the BGS has not just remapped the Yorkshire Wolds; they have also shared their expertise and enthusiasm with all. The outputs of this project will benefit the people of Yorkshire for centuries to come and will greatly assist the Environment Agency in our work to create better places for people and wildlife, while supporting sustainable development.

Ruth Buckley, Environment Agency.

This project has been a wonderful example of collaboration and shared learning. The BGS team members were generous with their time, sharing their expert knowledge of field mapping and interpreting the modern information. It was a pleasure to work with them. The end result is a huge improvement in the collective understanding of the geology, which will feed into improvements in understanding of groundwater flow and a new groundwater model based on the new geology maps. This gives us the ability to better manage East Yorkshire’s water resources and protect the environment now and into the future.  A big thank you to all involved.

Mark Morton, Yorkshire Water Services Limited.

The data produced from this work will form part of the national geological map, which will be freely accessible via the .

BGS Geology, BGS’s digital geological maps covering Great Britain, is based on a suite of published paper maps enhanced with latest digital mapping. It is periodically updated with information from field surveys as well as including previously unpublished maps or additional interpretation.

The latest version of BGS Geology 50K now covers the majority of Great Britain plus the Isle of Man, an estimated 236 000 km². This includes coverage for approximately 99 per cent of the bedrock and approximately 95 per cent of the superficial deposits across the country.

These geological maps provide crucial information like rock types and faults, forming a valuable resource for a wide range of uses, such as infrastructure planning and development, including ground source heat pumps, and environmental assessment. 

The 50K-scale map offers a balance between detail and coverage, making it highly useful for a wide range of applications, from regional assessment to local-scale intelligence.

The latest update incorporates all edits to the dataset since the previous version’s release in 2017. This includes new and revised tiles of geology data, updates to the coastline and various corrections to geological features across the country. Also included is additional attribution on linear features depicting fault trace handedness and hanging-wall orientation on fault features.

Henry Holbrook, data sharing lead at BGS.

In addition to the 50K maps, BGS has also updated its 10K and 25K maps. BGS Geology 10K and 25K is the most detailed geological dataset we have produced Around half of the country is now covered with this update, including many urban centres and transport routes in Great Britain.

This latest release of BGS Geology 10K and 25K includes new maps and is based on our highest-resolution survey mapping. It will continue to be of great help to the public sector, the construction industry and academics.

Henry Holbrook

BGS’s data for both BGS Geology 50K and BGS Geology 10K and 25K is available under licence. You can also view the BGS Geology 50K map data in the GeoIndex viewer. Further information about BGS Geology 50K and BGS Geology 10K maps is available on the BGS website.