Tech Talk

Geoscience is a highly technical area, which incorporates a number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The business cluster Geoscience Ireland, (GI), assists member companies in winning business overseas.

Construction Minerals supply chain: the geoscience expertise

Minerals and their products are essential to modern-day living and are a key component in the construction of our towns, cities and societies.

The data, maps, interpretation and advice provided by Geological Survey Ireland in the production of minerals informs several aspects of the minerals value chain and the society we build.

The Geological Survey sponsors the Geoscience Ireland (GI) industry cluster which comprises over forty Irish companies.

The companies have expertise across this supply chain while the GI cluster team focuses on assisting these Irish companies in winning business overseas.

The expertise has evolved over generations from designing and delivering Ireland’s infrastructure projects and natural resource developments.

In internationalising this skillset, GI is supported by Enterprise Ireland and its network of overseas offices, and the consular network of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Supply and demand

Raw materials are required for almost every good we use and to support the way we live.

As Ireland works toward the future, ‘Project Ireland 2040’ will require 1.5bn tonnes of aggregates to be produced and the Irish Concrete Federation noted in its ‘Essential Aggregates’ publication (2019), that the identification, quantification and protection of Ireland’s reserve of these essential raw materials is required to assist in the delivering of the 2040 ambitions.

The EU-wide lowcarbon pathway to meet future targets in 2030 and 2050 will also expedite the sustainable access to resources (including the ‘rare earths’ required for renewable energy, EVs and battery technology) and the strategic security of supply.

As Ireland and Europe continues to move toward lower carbon and smarter cities, the European Commission (since 2011) has evolved a list of thirty critical raw materials.

Critical minerals are metals and non-metals that are considered vital for the economic wellbeing of the world's major and emerging economies, yet whose supply may be at risk due to geological scarcity, geopolitical issues, trade policy or other factors.

The World Bank anticipates the production of minerals will soar as the demand for clean energy increases while the technologies that will underpin smarter cities

will demand essential materials for their delivery.

Indeed, datacentres are the backbone of such developments. Irish companies have demonstrated strong capabilities in this space and export this expertise in partnership with key tech clients; the Nordics is a prime location.

The Geoscience expertise

Ireland is home to over 500 commercial quarries and Europe’s largest zinc mine (Tara mines) is near Navan, Co Meath.

The forty-two companies comprising the GI cluster have worked on many of these extraction and production sites.

Consultancy expertise includes services from the geological (and geophysical and geochemistry) surveying, planning and environmental due diligence, to the monitoring and reporting on environmental and water impacts during operations.

The design of project sites from concept to closure and aftercare is a further strength that GI companies deliver in Ireland and export successfully to overseas markets including Africa, the Middle East, the Americas and across Europe.

The contracting companies deliver contract mining, drilling, construction, site closure and remediation services; several contractors – much like the consultancy firms – have established a strong base in the UK.

Drilling services are critical to site investigation, groundwater, mineral exploration and development, directional drilling and geothermal energy and GI proudly supports the Geo Drilling Apprenticeship at IT Carlow.

For further information on GI – or to see the projects and case studies of our members – please visit www.geoscience.ie