MinLand Project at the Future Mine and Mineral 2019
TRACK 2 – LAND USE ISSUES, AVAILABILITY OF LAND AND LAND USE PLANNING
MinLand project – Access to land a key issue for mining
Dr. Ronald Arvidsson, the project coordinator presented the MinLand Project at the Future Mine and Mineral 2019.
Competition about use of land is fierce within Europe. Currently, the need for metals, construction raw materials and industrial minerals is increasing. Therefore, there is a large need for access to land for exploration and extraction of mineral raw materials. Since land use is not always well synchronized when it comes to extraction of minerals EU has recognized the need for exploring good practices for sharing between the EU member states for guidelines regarding how to reach a system where land is not sterilized and a harmonized land use and mineral policy strategy that will allow extraction of metals, construction and industrial mineral within Europe. In a global context we are also obliged to take a shared burden of extraction and not only consumption.
The H2020 project MinLand therefore deals with:
- Establishing a data base regarding legislation and policy regarding minerals land use and general land use
- Analyse different land use cases of mineral exploration and extraction
- Develop a guideline regarding successful process of exploration and extraction with focus upon a optimized and sustainable land use process and mineral extraction
- The guide line will focus upon good case examples
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MinLand Newsletter #1
Check out the MinLand newsletter! Edition #1 consisting of interview with the project coordinator and information about MinLand case studies!
Click here to download the newsletter.
Assessing the quality and status of collected data and case studies: Work package leaders of WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP8 meeting
During the first half of year of the project, WP2 (Land Use Planning Policies & Practices) collected and structured data on minerals and land use in Europe. During the same period, WP 3 (Case studies of land use planning in exploration and mining) selected, described and analyzed 15 cases around Europe relative to minerals entering land use plans for aspects that represent good practices within the stream tackled by MinLand project.
MinLand work package leaders of WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP8 met at the Geological Survey of Sweden in Uppsala, from 17 to 18 September 2018, with the main objective to access the quality of content of the data obtained within WP2 and WP3 and for the need of WP4 and WP5. Furthermore, necessary coordination between WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP8 were discussed.
Finally, the Board worked on preparation of several local workshops for stakeholders that will take place from October 2018 to February 2019.
Minerals entering land use plans: Case studies from all around the Europe
By the end of the summer, 15 cases around Europe relative to minerals entering land use plans have been selected, described and analysed for aspects that represent good practices within the stream tackled by MinLand project.
Aspects that are addressed include evaluation of functionality of different policy and land use planning systems integrating mineral information, the values attributed and the measures adopted to safeguard mineral resources in national contexts, the transparency of the processes and societal aspects.
Cases that addressed specifically land use planning and policy making have been from Austria, Portugal, Greece, Norway and Ireland and they highlight also aspects of communication between authorities and of transparency. Cases that address sites, their development and their role in land planning, social acceptability/community engagement are from Finland, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Italy, Ireland.
There are cases that address open mining and underground mining stressing the fact that In some countries coexistence is possible between different land uses including mineral exploitation activities. There are cases that address different density areas and various commodities. The cases will be uploaded in the result page and they are matter of discussion within different workshops in Europe. They are under evaluation in the project activity to potentiate transferability of the good practice aspects.
Mineral Resources in Sustainable Land-Use Planning
The MINLAND project has been designed to meet the challenges of competing land use from many different needs. Therefore, securing access to land for exploration and extraction of minerals, including critical raw materials in an integrated optimized process is of great importance.
It was recognized by the EU the importance to safeguard the supply of metallic and other mineral raw materials for the European needs by the European Commission in the Raw Materials Initiative. Reasons are that mineral raw materials are instrumental in development of new green technology, batteries for electric cars, development of cities and access to metals for the European Industry. A consequence of the formed strategy was the launch of the H2020 SC5 call which resulted in the MINLAND consortium winning the project.
The MINLAND project will pursue four main objectives: to produce a data base of existing policies, to provide guidelines on how to link land use and mineral policies, to analyze land use case studies of mineral exploration and extraction with respect to mineral- and land-use policies. The aim is to support a more efficient and sustainable permitting process by providing best practice examples and to ensure knowledge exchange among relevant stakeholders.
The MINLAND consortium, coordinated by the Geological Survey of Sweden builds upon participation from all over Europe. The consortium consists of partners and third parties covering such expertise as geological land use information (Eurogeosurveys – geological surveys umbrella organization), mining authorities, land use authorities, industry and academy. It is further supported by a broad stakeholder group covering from municipal and regional level land use authorities to Euromines, World Wildlife Fund, PDAC, UEPG, and land use experts.
This project is financed by the European Union in the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation - Horizon2020 and will officially start on the 1st of December for a duration of two years.
To learn more about the project, please contact:
Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU):
Mr. Ronald ARVIDSSON, Project Coordinator
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +46 1817 9013
EuroGeoSurveys:
Web: http://www.eurogeosurveys.org/
Email: Ms. Nancy SAVALL: [email protected]
Ms. Jelena VIDOVIC: [email protected]
Phone: +32 2 888 75 53
