The Martello Mines and Minerals Report: Bringing Clarity to Mining Risk

The Martello Mines and Minerals report is a dedicated mining due diligence report for residential and commercial property transactions.

It combines:

• Official Law Society licensed CON29M coal mining data
• Non-coal mining dataset including metalliferous, brine, limestone, chalk, clay, evaporites, iron mining, and building stone
• Historic surface and underground mining records
• Mining hazards and liability considerations
• Expert interpretation of historic mining and geological context

Importantly, these are not treated as disconnected datasets.

The report itself is designed to be visual, structured, and practical to use. Summary pages, mapped features, plain-English explanations, and dedicated Q&A sections help conveyancers move from raw mining data to practical conclusions more quickly.

One of the biggest frustrations in mining due diligence is that many mining searches stop at identifying potential hazards.

A mining feature is flagged, or a warning is triggered

The result is often more uncertainty and fear rather than greater clarity.

In many cases, interpretive review sits outside the core report process and requires additional mapping reviews, separate specialist reports, or follow-on assessments before a practical conclusion can be reached.

This can create:

• Additional delay within the transaction
• Increased reporting costs
• Duplicate interpretation between providers
• Overly cautious outcomes
• Uncertainty around whether a mining feature is genuinely material to the property

Mining due diligence should help conveyancers reach a decision!

Martello’s approach is built around integrated interpretation.

For lower-risk properties, the report applies structured contextual assessment to explain why mining risks are considered low or manageable.

Where there is greater potential for instability or historic mining complexity, expert review is built directly into the report process.

This includes:

• Historic mapping interpretation by mining specialists
• Additional assessment from Martello’s senior geotechnical engineer
• Full interpretive assessment from Cornwall Mining Consultants for historic metalliferous mining across the South West

This is particularly important in regions such as Cornwall and Devon, where historic metal mining can be highly localised, poorly recorded, and difficult to assess through automated datasets alone.

For example, a historic metalliferous mining feature identified near a property in Cornwall may initially appear concerning within a raw mining dataset. However, when assessed alongside historic mapping, expert geological and geotechnical context, recorded instability, and the property's location, the practical risk to the transaction may ultimately be limited.

Rather than producing a technical dead end, the report is designed to guide the conveyancer toward a practical outcome through:

• Clear Q&A-style conclusions
• Mapped mining context
• Liability guidance
• Lender considerations
• Recommended next steps where appropriate

The aim is not simply to identify mining features, but to explain their relevance in the context of the transaction.

Mining risk is broader than coal

Increasingly, conveyancers are expected to deal with risk associated with:

• Chalk mining across the South East
• Metalliferous mining in Cornwall and Devon
• Brine extraction in Cheshire
• Limestone workings in the Midlands
• Historic quarrying and underground extraction across England and Wales

Many of these risks sit outside traditional CON29M workflows but can still affect lender decisions, property stability, future liability, and transaction outcomes.

The report has therefore been structured around all mining-related considerations, rather than focusing solely on coal mining.

Conveyancers need clearer mining guidance

• Mining due diligence has become increasingly fragmented.
• Many workflows now involve:
• Initial mining screening
• Follow-on interpretive reports
• Additional mapping reviews
• Separate specialist assessments

This increases cost and delay while still leaving uncertainty around the actual level of mining risk.

The Martello Mines and Minerals report has been designed to simplify this process by integrating interpretation earlier and reducing unnecessary escalation wherever possible.

The Martello Mines and Minerals report has been designed to work alongside the Martello Residential Environmental report, rather than duplicating it.

The Martello Residential Enviro already addresses broader environmental and ground stability considerations. The Mines and Minerals report exists to provide dedicated mining due diligence where it is genuinely required.

This helps avoid several common problems seen elsewhere in the market:

• Duplication of opinion
• Duplication of cost
• Contradictory conclusions between reports
• Unnecessary overlap between environmental and mining assessments

Martello Enviro now automatically flags when a property falls within a mines and minerals coverage area. This means conveyancers are guided toward additional mining due diligence only where appropriate.

The workflow becomes:

1. Environmental search identifies a potential mining context
2. Conveyancer is alerted to possible mining considerations
3. A dedicated mining report provides an interpreted mining assessment and practical outcomes

This creates a more proportionate and transparent due diligence process.

Not every transaction requires a full suite of mining investigations.

One of the core aims behind the Martello Mines and Minerals report is to reduce unnecessary follow-on reporting where risks can already be interpreted with confidence.

By integrating expert review into the standard workflow, the report helps reduce:

• Follow-on mining reports
• Additional mapping interpretation requests
• Delays waiting for specialist review
• Overly conservative outcomes

Most properties ultimately fall into low or moderate-risk categories where clear interpretation is more valuable than escalating technical complexity.

The aim is not to minimise risk, but to provide proportionate and understandable guidance earlier in the transaction process.

The report is built around a simple principle:

Mining searches should help conveyancers reach a decision, not simply identify uncertainty.

By combining integrated CON29M data, non-coal mining assessment, mapped interpretation, and expert review into a single workflow, the Martello Mines and Minerals report is designed to provide clearer outcomes earlier in the transaction process.

For conveyancers, that means fewer unnecessary follow-on reports, fewer delays, and greater confidence in understanding what mining risk actually means for the property transaction.