New European initiatives on raw materials stimulating mineral resources sustainability in Greece

The minerals resources sector is the source of a significant proportion of materials on which the society depends on. It supports regional communities, creates employment, provides facilities and enhances services, including health, education and welfare, through its contribution to local, regional and national economies. However, the growth of industrial economies, like for instance the Chinese and the Indian, has led to a tremendous upward spiral of mineral consumption, in this case accompanied by a shift of emphasis to base metals and industrial minerals for steel manufacturing and building. The demand is becoming so great that even low and deep - seated mineral concentrations can reasonably considered ore deposits. This means the European mineral industry will probably have to be reshaped in terms of exploration and exploitation practises. The main target is to increase the commodity base and range of European mineral resources. This has been frequently indicated and documented lately through in a number of European studies and market analyses (e.g. Analysis of the competitiveness of the EU Non - Energy Extractive Industry), technology platforms (e.g. European Technology Platform for Sustainable Mineral Resources), strategies (e.g. Towards Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources), policies and initiatives (e.g. Raw materials Initiative, GMES, INSPIRE), and RTD projects (e.g. BioMine, ProMine) related to relevant FP calls. Europe shows a growing and accelerating consumption of mineral commodities. At the moment supply to meet these demands is or is not adequate cannot be stated with any precision for supply is a matter of resources and the knowledge ability to exploit them with respect to sustainability. The evidence of recent years on European metallogenetic belts proves that major new ore deposits may still be found. Europe should become world’s key asset in promoting sustainable use of mineral resources. Both primary and secondary resources, in terms of re-use of by-products and mine wastes should be exploited. Through in average over 50 years of existence the Greek Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration acquired huge amounts of data on Greece’s geology and mineral resources. In this respect, there is great potential for future discoveries of large scale and deep-seated deposits and sustainable minerals supply from Greek source.


*Dr. Economic Geologist, IGME, Regional Division of central Macedonia, Fragon 1, 54626 Thessaloniki, Greece. narvanitidis@thes.igme.gr