It’s not often that the UK witnesses earthquakes of serious magnitude, and the two quakes registered in the Blackpool area in north-west UK in April and June corresponded to the usual low level magnitudes, of 2.3 and 1.5, respectively.
To put into perspective, that equates to about 12bn times smaller than the Tohoku quake in Japan earlier this year.
Despite their small scale, the UK quake shockwaves have resonated with some impact among those concerned with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of shale gas beds in the region.
Fracking is the process of creating fissures, or fractures, by injecting a fluid under pressure in underground formations to allow natural gas or oil to flow back out.
One of the key fracking fluid ingredients, and a significant industrial minerals market, are proppants (used to prop open fissures), which may be...