31 european partners sharing
their knowledge to make Europe the world's leading
mineral intelligence centre.
Hilton Park Nicosia
Griva
Dighenis Avenue
Nicosia,
1507, Cyprus
On Thursday, over 60 high-level geoscientists and raw
materials experts attended the first Minerals4EU progress meeting organised in Cyprus by the Geological Survey Department of
the Ministry of Agriculture, Naturals Resources and Environment.
The
Minerals4EU project, based on the recommendations of the EU Raw Materials
Initiative, makes a
fundamental contribution to the European Innovation Partnership on Raw
Materials (EIP RM) and represents the first step for the successful
implementation of some of the major EU2020 policies.
The need for a better understanding of
mineral and metal resources availability within the EU is fuelled by the need
to reduce the dependence on imports of raw materials from outside the EU. Project Officer, German
Esteban-Muniz from European Commission highlighted that nowadays “Minerals4EU will therefore contribute to and
support decision making on the policy and adaptation strategies of the
Commission by developing a network structure with mineral information data and
products, based on authoritative information sources. The
project represents the meeting point for the European minerals data providers
with a wide variety of stakeholders. This will allow Minerals4EU to transform
all this information into a sustainable operational service. The potential
interest of the companies in such information is clear, since this will give a
complete picture of the mineral information data and products in Europe. New investment will be encouraged since
further Research and Innovation will have to be developed in order to extract
those unexploited minerals”.
The geology in Europe
varies considerably and, as a consequence, the continent has a rich endowment
of different kinds of economic minerals. Historically, the economic development
of individual European countries has been built on the resources contained
within their own borders but increasingly in the twentieth and twenty-first
centuries the demand within Europe
has exceeded its capacity to supply. As a consequence, many European countries
are dependent on imports for the majority of the minerals needed to support the
standards of living demanded by society. As global demand for, and production
of, minerals has grown, the share of the total production held by many European
countries has generally declined. However, a variety of minerals are still
produced within Europe, as pointed out by Ms Eleni Georgiou Morisseau, Director
of the Geological Survey of Cyprus, “after
millennia of copper extraction in Cyprus which continues until today several quarries
are still active on our island and their production contribute to the economic
development Cyprus and of Europe.”
To meet these challenges, the project will
create the first operational raw material management network across Europe. This network will maintain a
pan-European “Minerals Knowledge Data Platform” compliant to the EC INSPIRE
Directive that will enable the EU geological surveys and other partners to
share their geological data covering mineral resources on land, down to 4 km
depth, and in the marine environment. This knowledge base will constitute a
unique tool to help stakeholders to develop up-to-date estimations of the
resources availability of raw materials, including urban mines (landfills and
mining waste, stockpiles in use) across Europe.
Along this knowledge base, Minerals4EU
will produce a “European Mineral Raw Materials Yearbook” covering for the first
time primary and secondary mineral resources data, from continental and
offshore extractions sites in Europe.
Finally, to develop a forward-looking analysis on the minerals supply and
demand situation in Europe,
Minerals4EU will provide supply and demand foresight studies on Raw Materials.
Those studies will enable a proper policy making to ensure an
adequate access to raw materials for the European industry sector.
The researchers have already fixed the next appointment
for discussing the results achieved after 1 year of the project, in Dublin, next September.
Communication Coordinator
Christian Burlet
Geological Surveys of Belgium
Jennerstraat 13 B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: (+32 2) 788 76 00 Fax: (+32 2) 647 73 59
E-mail: christian.burlet@gmail.com
Internet: http://www.naturalsciences.be/geology
Claudia Delfini
EuroGeoSurveys – The Geological surveys of Europe
Rue Joseph II, 38
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Tel: (+32 2) 8887553 – Fax: (+32 2) 503 50 25
E-mail: claudia.delfini@eurogeosurveys.org
http://www.eurogeosurveys.org
http://www.minerals4eu.eu
Scientific Coordinator |
Technical Coordinator |
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Dr. Nikolaos Arvanitidis
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Juha Kaija
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Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning
(SGU)
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Geological Survey of Finland (GTK)
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Geological Survey of Sweden
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Betonimiehenkuja 4
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Box 670, 75 128 Uppsala
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02150 Espoo
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SWEDEN
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FINLAND
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e-mail: nikolaos.arvanitidis@sgu.se
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e-mail: juha.kaija@gtk.fi
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