Exploration companies are making progress in defining resources in the region. As these projects develop, there is a growing recognition of specific challenges for the region’s economy, in terms of skills, access to accredited laboratory analyses, drilling capacity and access to clean renewable energy to power future UK sites. We’ve produced a short report on the tech metals opportunity and some of things to be done outside of the ‘big finance’ work such as cluster development, a data hub; an equipment network and an Education forum.