Sector
Mining & Resources
Quarrying, mineral extraction, oil and gas exploration and resource industries.
Start here
See all 4Prepare for an HSE visit
HSE's silica crackdown means inspection visits are stepping up
Set up a quarrying and mining business
The broadest set-up route for extraction businesses
Set up a petroleum extraction business
Major-hazard petroleum extraction
Who regulates you
See all 15HSE (opens in a new tab)
Workplace health, safety, and welfare regulation across all industries. Enforces the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and related regulations. Investigates serious incidents …
Enforces 11 Acts this sector relies on.
NSTA (opens in a new tab)
Licenses and regulates the UK oil and gas, offshore hydrogen, and carbon storage industries. Issues petroleum production licences and CO2 storage licences. Formerly the …
Enforces 6 Acts this sector relies on.
OPRED (opens in a new tab)
Regulates environmental aspects of offshore oil and gas, carbon storage, and gas unloading/storage. Issues environmental permits, approves oil spill response plans, and oversees decommissioning …
Enforces 5 Acts this sector relies on.
NIEA (opens in a new tab)
Northern Ireland's environmental regulator. Part of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA). Issues environmental permits, regulates waste and emissions, protects water …
Enforces 4 Acts this sector relies on.
NRW (opens in a new tab)
Principal environmental regulator for Wales. Combines functions of Environment Agency Wales, Countryside Council for Wales, and Forestry Commission Wales. Issues environmental permits, manages natural …
Enforces 4 Acts this sector relies on.
OEP (opens in a new tab)
Independent body established post-Brexit to scrutinise environmental law and investigate complaints about public authorities' failures to comply with environmental law in England and Northern …
Enforces 4 Acts this sector relies on.
Key legislation
See all 22What’s changing
Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage (Financing of Costs of Offshore Decommissioning) Regulations 2026
General rules
Common requirements that apply across industries. Conditions such as employing people or operating premises are shown only after they are known.
Meet your business waste duty of care
Every business that produces, stores or disposes of waste has a duty of care under section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and stays responsible after it hands the waste on. Use only registered waste carriers, complete waste transfer notes correctly, and follow the stricter rules for hazardous waste.
Applies across industries.
General ruleFile your confirmation statement
File a confirmation statement every 12 months, within 14 days after your review period ends. Filing late is a criminal offence for the company and its officers.
Applies across industries.
General ruleVerify your identity for Companies House as a director or PSC
Yes, if you are an individual director or PSC of a UK company, or an individual director of an overseas company registered in the UK. Corporate directors and officers of corporate PSCs are not yet required to verify. The transition for existing directors and PSCs ends on 17 November 2026.
Applies across industries.
General ruleCheck if you need to register for VAT
You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold in any rolling 12 months, or when you expect it to pass the threshold within the next 30 days alone. Under the first test, register within 30 days of the end of the month. Late registration brings penalties and backdated VAT.
Applies across industries.
All guidance for mining & resources
Compliance & Legal
8
Get the permits and consents for quarrying and mining
Every quarry or mine needs minerals planning permission before work starts. Environmental permits depend on what you do on site, so many simple stone quarries need none, but blasting needs an explosives licence.
Relevant across several parts of this sector.
Control explosion, well and major-accident risks in petroleum extraction
Every well, separator and store of hydrocarbons needs a DSEAR assessment and hazardous-area zoning. Onshore, tell HSE 21 days before drilling and prepare a health and safety document. Offshore, a production installation needs an accepted safety case before it operates.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Get the licences, permits and meet major-hazard duties for petroleum extraction
Extracting oil or gas without a petroleum production licence from the North Sea Transition Authority is unlawful. Offshore installations also need an accepted safety case, and onshore sites face COMAH and environmental permit duties.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Meet your coal mining regulatory duties
Deep or opencast coal mining needs a licence from the Mining Remediation Authority, which owns most unworked coal in Great Britain. Your working method decides your safety regime: deep mines follow the Mines Regulations 2014 and opencast sites the Quarries Regulations 1999.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Metal ore mining: compliance checklist
Before you mine, appoint a mine manager, prepare your mine health and safety document and hold minerals planning permission. You also need environmental permits for mine water and extractive waste, an explosives licence if you blast, and a radioactive substances permit for uranium or thorium ore.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Meet your worksite compliance duties for mining support
As a contractor on an offshore installation, at a mine or at a quarry, you must cooperate with the operator's safety management system and follow the safety regime for that site. The extraction licence and safety case stay with the operator, not you.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Run a safe quarry under the Quarries Regulations 1999
Before any work starts at a quarry, prepare a health and safety document and appoint a competent person to take charge. Tell HSE within 14 days of opening. Have excavations and tips appraised, and keep silica dust below 0.1 mg/m³ over 8 hours.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Control dust, firedamp and explosion risks in a coal mine
An underground coal mine must be notified to HSE 28 days before it is worked and needs a health and safety document before any work starts. You must detect and reduce firedamp, keep enough inert dust on roadways, ventilate continuously, sample respirable dust and plan escape and rescue.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Show 2 more
Run a metal ore mine under the Mines Regulations 2014
Tell HSE at least 28 days before you work a mine, and do no work until a health and safety document is in place. As mine operator you must appoint a competent manager, control ground movement, inrushes, fire and ventilation, and keep an escape and rescue plan.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
Get authorisation for a water activity in Scotland (EASR)
In Scotland, any activity affecting surface water or groundwater, such as abstraction, engineering or discharges, needs SEPA authorisation, and doing it without one is a criminal offence. SEPA decides which of four risk-based tiers your activity falls into, from general binding rules to a permit.
Relevant across several parts of this sector.
Sector-Specific
2
DAERA consents for radioactive substances and peat extraction
The Northern Ireland consents that mining, quarrying and peat businesses can miss. Keeping or using radioactive material, or accumulating or disposing of radioactive waste, needs a certificate from DAERA under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993, which still applies in Northern Ireland. Extracting peat needs planning permission with environmental impact assessment, a habitats assessment and, on protected land, DAERA consent.
Relevant across several parts of this sector.
Use land 300 metres or deeper for petroleum or geothermal work
Section 43 of the Infrastructure Act 2015 gives a right to use land at least 300 metres below the surface to search for, prepare for and exploit petroleum or deep geothermal energy, without the surface owner's consent. The right does not replace your licence, planning permission or environmental permits.
Relevant to a specific activity in this sector.
All journeys
Set up a coal mining operation
The regulations for coal and lignite extraction in Great Britain, in order: the workplace duties every employer shares, …
Set up a metal ore mining business
For metal ore mining businesses: iron, copper, tin, lead, zinc, tungsten, uranium and thorium. Get the permits and …
Set up a quarrying and mining business
Extract stone, sand, gravel, clay, salt, peat or other minerals. Get planning permission and the permits for your …
Set up a mining support service business
For drilling, well services, site preparation, pumping and draining contractors working for mining and petroleum operators. Control hazardous …
Subsectors
SIC 2007 divisions covered by this sector.