Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Non-energy mining industry in Europe
Date: 2008-07-09
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: ESC opinion, economic development, exploitation of resources, industrial investment, mineral resources, mining industry, security of supply, sustainable development

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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Non-energy mining industry in
Europe’

(2009/C 27/19)

On 17 January 2008, the European Economic and Social Committee, acting under Article 29(2) of its Rules
of Procedure, decided to draw up an own-initiative opinion on

Non-energy mining industry in Europe.

The Consultative Commission on Industrial Change, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's
work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 24 June 2008. The rapporteur was Mr Fornea and the
co-rapporteur was Mr Pop.

At its 446th plenary session, held on 9 and 10 July 2008 (meeting of 9 July), the European Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 135 votes to one with 10 abstentions.

1. Conclusions and Recommendations

1.2
The European Economic and Social Committee urges the
Commission and the Member States to work on the following
recommendations (see paragraph 3.2 for detailed recommenda-
tions):

1.1
The main pillars for the future security of raw materials
supply in Europe are: domestic supply, international supply,
capacity building and resource efficiency.

— The policy in raw materials domestic supply should take
industry, environment policy and land-use
into account
planning as an integrated approach. The best practice in the
field should be extended to new potential areas. Access to
domestic resources within the Member States should be
encouraged by providing the necessary balance between the
environment and industrial development policies, as well as
harmonised incentives for development and protection in
extending existing sites and opening new ones where these
are, on the one hand, economically and socially viable and
desirable and, on the other, environmentally sustainable.

— The globalisation impact on the international supply of
minerals should be properly assessed by the EU and Member
States whenever the import of raw materials from outside
prevails. European environmental and social
standards
should be observed when considering investment policy and
industrial relocation. Access to raw material should be guar-
anteed for European Users and the strategic dependence of
the EU should be reduced.

— Capacity building in European non-energy extractive indus-
tries bears upon a wide range of challenges, such as adminis-
trative barriers, the need to improve the sector's image, the
need for qualified manpower, management
techniques,
education and training.

— Improved efficiency of

extraction processes
depends on progress made in other sectors active in both
mineral extraction and other areas and calls for cooperation
between the European Commission and Member States.

resource

— Better regulation through improved legal framework and
permitting system; exchange of best practice in planning
policies; cutting-down excessive administrative burden in the
activities;
facilitating
issuing
promoting sustainable development in expanding extraction
sites, and securing mineral deposits (1).

exploration

permits;

of

— Strengthening the compatibility of extraction and envir-
onmental protection by: extending best practice in and
around Natura 2000; advocating the proximity principle in
transport procedures in order to reduce pollution and costs,
and improving access to resources (2).

— Reinforcing the mineral intelligence at the EU level by
establishing a European geological capacity and a European
Mineral Resources Information System, to be built on the
basis of the capacities of the Member States' National Geolo-
gical Surveys.

2. Overview of the Sector

2.1 Minerals are essential for development and therefore for
our quality of life and the creation of sustainable communities.
Non-energy minerals (3) are basic materials for our daily life: a
house contains up to 150 tons of minerals incorporated in:
cement, clay, gypsum, calcium carbonate, composite materials,
glass, paint, ceramics, tiles and tons of metals; a car contains up
to 150 kilograms of minerals in rubber, plastics, glass and
more than one ton of metals; 50 % of paints and paper are
made from minerals; glass and ceramics also contain up to

(1) See paragraph 3.2.1 for detailed recommendations.
(2) See paragraph 3.2.2 for detailed recommendations.
(3) According to SEC(2007) 771, non-energy minerals are classified as:
metallic minerals (copper, iron, silver, etc.); industrial minerals (salt,
feldspar, kaolin etc.) and construction minerals. According to IP — 07
— 767, in the case of metallic minerals, Europe's capacity to provide its
own supply through domestic extraction is very limited. As an illustra-
tion, 177 million tons of metallic minerals were imported into the EU
in 2004 with a total value of EUR 10.4 billion, compared to the EU's
production of some 30 million tons.

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100 % minerals (4). Mineral planning ensures that societal and
economic needs as well as the extraction and processing impact
on people and environment are managed in an integrated way
by considering the whole life cycle of the mine/quarry from the
very beginning of the extraction process, and to include closure
and after-closure care in the planning process. In the light of
globalisation and intensified competition on the raw materials'
markets, the strategic value of the mining sector is constantly
increasing. As far as extraction technology is concerned, Europe
has become a world leader, but this should be consolidated with
a view to for future developments.

2.2
Today, 70 % of the European manufacturing industry
depends on extracted substances, while the EU 27 is currently
facing a large-scale restructuring of the mining industry and the
price of metals on the global market is rising steadily. In order
to tackle this trend, European industrial policies have to take
into consideration the fact that security of supply and demand
for raw materials should prevail in the context of free market
forces.

2.3
The European Non-Energy Extractive Industries provide
jobs for 295 000 employees in about 18 300 companies,
with a turnover of EUR 45.9 billion, and include many
SMEs (5). The sector promotes environmental responsibility and
sustainable development through its member organisations and
is committed to corporate social responsibility.

2.4 Many Europeans do not recognise the importance of
mining, but in future, the sustainable growth of Europe will
depend heavily on locally extracted substances, while the high
demand for minerals coming from countries such as China and
India will have a real potential to affect security of supply for
the EU (6). In the context of a global approach, these regions
tend to capture the lion's share of raw materials and financial
resources, and the result of this is industrial restructuring and
investment relocations on an international scale.

in more technologies and more R&D activities. It is a recognised
fact that technological equipment incorporates large quantities
of metals, a large proportion of which is made up of rare and
precious metals, which, as we must realise, are almost unavail-
able in Europe (8).

The European Economic and Social Committee welcomes
2.6
the proposal
from the European Commission to publish a
Communication in 2008 on improving sustainable access to
raw materials. The Communication should recommend feasible,
realistic and helpful actions through which the industries may
gain improved sustainable access to resources. This is of particu-
lar importance as the industries are facing important supply
challenges:

— reduced availability of accessible deposits

for
mineral extraction as a result of insufficient or short term
land-use planning or due to the insufficient integration of
geological knowledge;

suitable

— high administrative burden and cost of obtaining extraction
permits due to additional regulations and time consuming
preliminary studies;

— difficulties in obtaining extraction permits, both for new
quarries and mining operations and for the extension of
existing ones.

2.7
The European Economic and Social Committee appreci-
ates the contributions of the Commission's specialists in the
Commission staff working document ‘Analysis of the competi-
tiveness of the non-energy extractive industry in the EU’ (9) and
emphasises that Europe's capacity to provide its own supply of
metallic minerals through domestic extraction is still limited, in
spite of the EU's enlargement.

It is possible to improve the security of supply of
2.7.1
investments in the
European industries by further substantial
mining sector of the new Member States with geological poten-
tial,
EU assistance
using
mechanisms.

improving

existing

and

the

2.5
In order to deal with globalisation and climate change,
the EU's Energy Policy for Europe and Integrated Mining Policy
are vital strategic elements. This was acknowledged from the
very beginning of European construction (7). As the Member
States are committed to supporting the EU's efforts to promote
renewable sources of energy and the efficient use of energy, it is
important
this can only be achieved if
European industries have safe access to non-energy minerals,
primarily base and high technology metals and minerals which
are vital to ‘green economies’. Changing patterns of behaviour,
energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy have resulted

to understand that

(4) Euromines.
(5) Eurostat.
(6) China's commodity hunger. Implications for Africa and Latin America —

Deutsche Bank Research.

(7) Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, signed

in 1951.

2.7.2 Major mineral resources are available in the Eastern
European countries where the geological structure has always
allowed for the development of mining activities. However, in
these new EU countries, the sector was underfunded by the
state, so the situation today does not show the real potential of
the non-energy mining industry. From this perspective,
it is
essential to have private capital invested in these mining compa-
nies in order to supply the financial resources which up to now
were provided mostly by the state.

(8) This approach can be found in the Fourth Report of the High Level
Group on Competitiveness, Energy and Environment, 27 November
2007 and G8 Summit Heiligendamm 6-8 June 2007. The High Level
Group on Competitiveness, Energy and Environment provides a plat-
form to galvanise the political commitment required to launch a
coherent strategy to facilitate access to raw materials.

(9) SEC(2007) 771.

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2.7.3
In order to secure the supply of raw materials for
European industry and to strengthen its competitiveness, it is
crucial to address the challenges of an uneven playing field in
terms of sustainable supply and access to mineral resources.
These challenges need to be addressed at a high level
in a
comprehensive approach incorporating a wide range of policy
areas, such as trade, development, energy,
infrastructure and
transport, enterprise and consumer policies.

2.7.4
The extractive industry interacts with a series of other
industries such as technology and machinery providers, research,
consulting, financial and environmental services, etc. (10) This is
why an extractive operation usually provides, on average, four
times as many indirect jobs as the direct jobs in the region
where it is located. The regional growth potential is consider-
able, particularly in areas where other economic development is
difficult.

2.7.5
The European Economic and Social Committee urges
the Commission to review the best practices and model opera-
tions that exist at Member State level, in order to develop and
promote them at EU level by taking into consideration not only
the technical
issues related to technology, but also Member
States' experience in organising geological surveys and mine and
quarry management for minerals (11).

Internationally, a Resource Endowment Project (12) has been
developed which provides guidance and case studies on how the
best mineral resources can be used for economic development.
Such a case study might also be developed in the EU.

3. Main pillars and recommendations for the future supply

of raw materials

3.1 Domestic supply

3.1.1
The limited access to resources, the high administrative
burden and the increasing costs for permit application processes
result in reduced investment in the EU non-energy industry
sector — even in high demand areas. A European raw materials
supply policy has to take into account industry and environ-
ment policy as well as land-use planning in order to ensure
better coordination between national planning competences and
the European policy levels.

of how to manage, in an integrated way, the need of society and
the economy for minerals, together with the impact of extrac-
tion and processing on people and the environment.

3.2
The European Economic and Social Committee urges the
Commission to recommend the following in its proposed
Communication:

3.2.1
(better regulation) through:

Improving the legal framework and permitting system

— the improvement of mineral planning policies through the
exchange of good practice in the EC Raw Materials Supply
Group (13); in particular, on the one hand, with regard to the
involvement of geological surveys and their expertise and
knowledge about deposits and, on the other hand, with
regard to the consultations with operators already present in
the areas concerned by infrastructure and nature protection
planning;

— the development of a one-stop-shop system (a single contact
point for all the parties participating in issuing the permits
and that is in a position to assess economic, social and
environmental
in order to improve the land-use
planning and permitting processes. The development of
such a system is within the competence of each of the EU
Member States;

issues),

— facilitating exploration by encouraging exploration activities

in Europe through better national regulations, by:

— providing incentives to exploration companies for the

exploration work carried out,

— improving security of tenure for exploration properties

to raise investors' confidence,

— cutting down exploration property acquisition time,

— running promotional campaigns to encourage setting up
of exploration companies and to attract outside compa-
nies to explore within the EU (14);

— facilitating exploration and extraction by reviewing existing
implementation through

legislation and ensuring better
more efficient processes and time limits;

3.1.2
initiatives on mineral planning for
communities and local government can provide good examples

Some national

— ensuring consistent implementation as regards the compat-
ibility of nature protection goals with mineral resources
extraction;

(10) For example, in modern mining, financial services are very important
for the evolution of a mine. Financial products differ depending on the
stage: exploration, feasibility stage, mine development, operations,
mine closure.

(11) To be seen in existing case studies in Finland, Sweden, the UK and

other European countries.

(12) Initiative launched in 2004 by the International Council on Mining
and Metals. It seeks to identify good policy practice for mining and
metals investments at national/regional and corporate levels within
developing countries.

(13) Raw Materials Supply Group is a stakeholder group comprising
industry, environmental NGO's, trade unions, Members States and the
Commission.

(14) According to Metals Economic Group's eighteenth annual edition
the high commodity prices
of Corporate Exploration Strategies,
have increased the worldwide nonferrous exploration total
to
US $ 10.5 billion in 2007. The top ten countries with mining explora-
tion budgets are: Canada 19 %, Australia 12 %, US 7 %, Russia 6 %,
Mexico 6 %, Peru 5 %, Chile 4 %, South Africa 4 %, China 3 %, Brazil
3 %.

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— assessing the sustainability aspects in expanding an existing
raw material extraction site rather than opening a new one
in a different location in order to meet the demand, and
also economic, social and environmental protection goals;

— providing access to remote areas by including access to
mineral deposits in European Commission and Member
States' infrastructure planning while providing, where appro-
priate, more ecological transport for large bulk materials,
e.g. rail, barge and sea transport;

— simplifying existing legislation and eliminating unnecessary

administrative burdens, such as multiple reporting;

— marine aggregates;

— securing mineral deposits by giving higher priority to
mineral resources in EU policies (competitiveness, develop-
industry, regional develop-
ment, environment, research,
ment), so that proven resources are not needlessly sterilised
by non-mineral development. This could be achieved by:

— ensuring that each EU Member State has a national
supply policy, published regularly and in full in English,

— identifying the EU's current and future mineral potential
and regularly updating such information and making it
easily accessible,

— identifying EU strategic minerals
national policies for their supply.

and coordinating

3.2.2
onmental protection by:

Strengthening the compatibility of extraction and envir-

— developing a GIS (15)-based information system on the loca-
tion, nature, resource and reserves of on-shore and off-shore
EU mineral resources to facilitate integration of mineral
potential
inter alia for the selection
in land-use planning,
and definition of protected areas;

— reducing the not-in-my-back-yard effect through a research
programme on the reduction of nuisance related issues and
thus improving the acceptability by communities.

3.2.3

Reinforcing the mineral intelligence at EU level by:

— providing policy makers with access to more comprehensive
data on resources: production, employees, revenue gener-
ated, land used for mineral extraction and land returned for
other uses to ensure that decisions can be made using the
best available data;

— giving more attention at both European and national level
industrial

to the growing importance of European metals,
minerals and aggregates at the political and legislative level;

— ensuring that geological information is taken into considera-
tion in land-use planning and as a matter of priority
providing information on mineral deposits for land-use data
bases and seriously considering the creation of a European
Geological Capacity based on the existing national and
regional Geological Surveys and their capabilities. Its remit
could include:

— providing case studies of best practice for the implementa-

tion of Article 6 of the ‘Natura 2000’ directive;

— the identification of

strategic resources and recom-
mending them to Member States as key priorities in land
use planning;

— improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Environmental
Impact Assessments by developing better and
implementation guidelines for Member States in

and Social
clearer
order to:

— ensure a harmonised approach across the EU,

— shorten time spans for the delivery of these assessments
as well as the response time of the authorities and thus
stability and predictability for
provide more
investors;

legal

— promoting the use of best extraction practice to halt the

decline in biodiversity;

— advocating the proximity principle in mineral supply within
the EU where feasible in order to reduce transport and
related emissions and noise;

(15) Geographic Information System.

— integrating into the European Spatial Development
Perspective (16)
(policy framework which has been
dormant since 1999) the EU perspective on access to
mineral resources and relaying that to the EU Member
States mineral planning policies;

— analysing the impact of climate change policies on

mineral supply and self-sufficiency aspects;

— improving the knowledge of distribution and quality of
mineral resources in the EU and their strategic impor-
tance and evaluating potential under Global Monitoring
for Environment and Security (GMES);

(16) The aim of the spatial development policies, as was defined by The
Informal Council of EU Ministers responsible for Spatial Planning held
in Potsdam on 10-11 May 1999, is to work towards a balanced and
sustainable development of the territory of the European Union in
order to achieve economic and social cohesion, conservation and
management of natural resources and the cultural heritage, more
balanced competitiveness of the EU.

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— developing a pan-European geological database, built on the
INSPIRE (17) principle and on the assessment of the potential
for concealed metallic and mineral deposits,
in the main
metallogenic/mineral reach areas;

— using information and services derived from earth obser-
vation, such as GMES, which is a Community initiative
launched at the Gothenburg Summit 2001 together with
the European Sustainability Strategy. The GMES ‘Land
Monitoring Core Service (LMCS)’ as one of these will
provide from 2008 onwards digital vector maps of the
actual land-use/land-cover all over Europe (38 countries
including Turkey)
seamlessly and with a gradually
increasing accuracy (1 ha minimum mapping unit,
departing from the current Corine Land-cover with
25 ha). Another part of LMCS selects cities and other
‘hot spots’ with an even higher accuracy (0.25 ha) and a
content adapted to the management of areas subject to
intensive use and change.

Also, gaining greater knowledge of the mineral potential
of deeper parts of Europe's main metallogenic provinces:
information and knowledge is very
while geological
good over most of Europe with respect
to the first
100 metres below the surface, knowledge and spatial
information on the deeper part of
those provinces
remains limited, although they are likely to host the
mineral deposits that Europe will need to meet its future
needs. The exploitation of deep-seated deposits has a
number of advantages: very little surface footprint, hence
greater social acceptability, and limited environmental
impacts;

— a global component aiming at

supporting the EU
external policies is also under development. Such infor-
mation will make it possible to:

4. International Supply

The full

impact of globalisation on the demand and
4.1
supply of mineral resources has not been assessed by the EU or
its Member States (18). The European Economic and Social
Committee recognises that there are many reasons to import
raw materials from outside the EU. However,
that
imported products may not have complied with European envir-
onmental and social standards during the production process
could result not only in a loss of competitiveness for the EU
economy, but also in the relocation of environmental and social
problems.

the fact

4.2
The European Economic and Social Committee urges the
Commission to recommend the following in its proposed
Communication:

— identifying strategic resources and recommending them to

Member States as key priorities in land-use planning;

— creating conditions which stimulate the competitiveness of
the European extractive industry by making the most of
research and innovation achievements
and promoting
investments;

— identifying and documenting raw material

import and
export flows and assessing long term political and economic
reliability;

— creating new programmes through European funds for
improved sustainability of extraction, transport and use of
minerals in the regions with good resources potential;

— ensuring, through the European Commission, the OECD and
the UNEP Sustainable Raw Materials Forum, that imported
materials are produced in a sustainable manner;

— encouraging EU investments in non-EU countries, with
special focus on Latin America, Africa, Russia and Central
Asia countries (19);

— fostering implementation of European standards in countries

— collect enough mining data, spatially representative

of origin through cooperation programmes;

and predictable,

— identify and quantify areas of open pit mining and/or

mining infrastructures,

— improving access and the long term stability of supply flows
must be on the agenda when shaping EU foreign policies
and should be addressed by EU officials at high ranking
bilateral meetings and summits.

— identify potential conflict areas (e.g. protected natural

sites) or compensation areas,

5. Capacity building

— monitor impacts on household water and effects of

pollution,

— monitor re-naturalisation process after site-closure,

— take urgent action in case of accidents.

(17) Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European
Community.

5.1
European Non-Energy Extractive Industries face a variety
of challenges with regard to capacity building, which involves
developing existing capacities and establishing new ones. One
important component of this is the improvement of the sector's
image. However, it is not the only measure that must be taken
to attract new and young people, maintain the existing
European workforce in this sector and improve their ability to
cope with the modernisation of the sector.

(18) At global level, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
has made an assessment on this issue in Part Two of its World Invest-
ment Report 2007.

(19) According to Raw Materials Data, Stockholm, January 2008, the
total investment in the global mining industry at the end of 2007 was
US $ 308 billion. That was up 50 % from 2006, which was in turn up
20 % from 2005.

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The European Economic and Social Committee urges the

5.2
Commission to encourage the following in its Communication:

— development of an EU or nationally supported skill enhance-
ment programme for an existing trained workforce that
requires further training and education, and an effective
policy for life-long learning;

— initiation of special EU programmes for making the most at
European level of existing qualified manpower for prospec-
tive job offers and investment in the potential global mining
areas as one of the main factors (technology, know-how,
mining intelligence)
to important
mineral deposits worldwide;

in providing access

— investment in universities and educational programmes to
increase overall capacity in the area by reviewing current
national support for the mining and mineral processing as
well as geology related departments in order to draw in
increased numbers of students in this area as well as
research activities in these disciplines;

— encouragement from decision-makers for the development
of clusters and technology parks within mining areas, since
the extractive industry interacts a great deal with other
industrial and service providers and we know that a job
created in mining provides four further jobs;

industries

— awareness-raising with regard to the role of minerals and the
through educational courses,
sustainability of
workshops, debates, conferences — an interdisciplinary
approach: for example, promoting in schools and universi-
ties concepts such as eco-mining, economic geology, respon-
sible use of mineral resources etc.;

— promotion of and research into health & safety issues as an
indispensable necessity for the sustainability of the mineral
resources sector;

6.2
The European Economic and Social Committee urges the
Commission to recommend the following in its proposed
Communication:

— encouraging the Commission to lend its full support to the
European Technology Platform on Sustainable Mineral
Resources (20)
recently been officially
just
recognised;

it has

as

— promote industry participation in EU and national R&D
programmes
run in cooperation with the European
Commission for increasingly sustainable extraction and a
programme for the use of raw materials through technolo-
gical improvement;

— involving machinery manufacturers in such a programme to

further reduce

— noise and at the same increase safety;

— dust, in cooperation with filter makers;
— CO2 levels and energy consumption, also in cooperation

with energy companies;

— vibration at the workplace;

— water usage throughout the industry;

stewardship

and

operational

acceptability

— improving
through:

— recycling;

— processing of minerals to improve efficiency (i.e. doing

more with less);

— using minerals to save precious and rare resources;

— using alternative raw materials including secondary raw

materials and waste materials where appropriate;

— promoting the Life Cycle Contribution of industries;

— promoting environmental synergies, e.g. produce locally to

— special emphasis on the prevention of occupational hazards

avoid transport problems;

and on preventive medical measures.

6. Resource efficiency

6.1
The involvement of other sectors active in the process of
mineral extraction is vital for resource efficiency. It is stressed
that an active extractive industry in Europe is also a driver for
the development of world class European technology and
service providers.

— encouraging,

through the Commissions' Directorates, an
assessment of the current situation of freight cost structures
(rail, barge and ship) and their competitiveness in an interna-
tional context, as happens in the energy sector;

— encouraging studies on biodiversity in the mining and quar-

rying environment;

— fostering the use of secondary materials in line with sustain-

able development.

Brussels, 9 July 2008.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

(20) ETP SMR, web: http://www.etpsmr.org/.