## 1 Introduction  
In December 2019, the European Commission (EC) presented the assumptions of the new growth strategy which is a European Green Deal for the European Union (EU) and its citizens. The main objective of the European Green Deal is to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy. The EC aims towards a complete reduction in net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 in the whole Union. The special attention is paid to the mineral resources management due to the European Green Deal refers to the economic growth, which is decoupled from resource usage [1].  
One of the most important tasks in the realisation of this new European strategy is the mobilisation of industry for a clean and circular economy (CE) [2]. The EC underlines that it will take the next 25 years to transform an industrial sector and all the value chains. Therefore, important decisions and actions are going to be taken in the next five years. In March 2020, the EC has published a new CE Action Plan focused on a cleaner and more competitive Europe [3]. Currently, the EU, in the process of transformation towards CE, which was announced in 2014 in the first EC communication on the CE [4]. In the following years, the EC systematically published subsequent CE announcements, as in 2015--the CE Action Plan [5], in 2018--the CE monitoring framework [6] and in 2019 report on the implementation of the first CE Action Plan [7]. The CE assumes a transition from a linear model based on \"take-make-dispose\" to a circular model, in which waste, if it arises, becomes a valuable resource [8]. At the same time, it is recommended to make use of mineral resources (raw materials (RMs)) in more efficient way and to recycle and recover RMs from any waste streams. The EC underlines that changes in the management of mineral resources in individual member states and their effects should be monitored. Therefore, in 2018, the EC pointed to issues related to the management of RMs as an important element of the monitoring framework of the transformation process towards CE [6].  
More sustainable resource management is indicated as a strategic target in the context of implementing the European Green Deal strategy and CE model. The core of these two economic strategies is sustainable development (SD) [9], which is defined as development which integrates economic, environmental and social measures in order to protect current and future generations. There are main actions indicated as a pathway towards the implementation of SD assumptions in both the Green Deal strategy and the CE model, however, no systematic scope of key directions with reference to environmental, economic and social areas has been provided. Therefore, in this work, a strategic direction aimed at sustainable and circular RM management in the EU, with strong emphasis on the key elements of the SD (environmental, economic and social), are provided and discussed. Moreover, the paper presents the importance of mineral resource management in the EU in transformation towards CE and the implementation of the Green Deal strategy, and discusses the results of selected indicators indicated in the CE monitoring framework related to the RMs' management and indicators presenting sustainable resource management.