TARGET Mineral Resources - Training And Research Group for Energy Transition Mineral Resources

The UK is training a new generation of PhD students to find and extract the metals and minerals needed for electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels. The TARGET Mineral Resources programme will fund doctoral training across multiple universities, producing specialists in critical raw materials like lithium, cobalt, and rare earth elements. These materials are essential for building batteries, magnets, and electronics that underpin the shift away from fossil fuels, yet the UK currently relies almost entirely on imports. The problem is that global demand for these resources is rising fast, while domestic expertise in exploration and sustainable extraction has dwindled. If the programme succeeds, it will create a skilled workforce able to identify new UK mineral deposits, develop cleaner extraction methods, and advise on supply chain security. This matters because without these materials, the country cannot manufacture its own clean energy technologies—it would remain dependent on foreign suppliers. The training also covers environmental and social impacts of mining, so graduates can balance resource needs against ecological protection. The project does not itself discover new deposits or build mines; it builds the human capacity to do so in the future.