• Energy Research

The Critical Raw Material (CRM) Deposit Map of Europe, prepared by EuroGeoSurvey's Mineral Resources Expert Group (MREG), shows European mineral deposits from the ProMine Mineral Deposit database containing critical commodities, according to the 2014 list of critical raw materials of the European Commission. EuroGeoSurveys (EGS), The Geological Surveys of Europe, is a not-for-profit organization representing 37 National Geological Surveys and some regional Geological Surveys in Europe. It provides the European Institutions with expert, independent, balanced and practical pan-European advice and information as an aid to problem-solving, policy development, regulatory and programme formulation in areas such as natural resources, energy and geo-hazards. The EGS MREG is actively involved in contributing to policy and strategy-making processes aimed at identifying, characterizing and safeguarding resource potential, especially for critical raw materials through data provision, research, technological development and innovation. The European Union aspires to reducing the import dependency of raw materials, especially CRM, that are essential to Europe's industries. In this respect, mineral resource information, data sharing and networking by European Geological Surveys is crucial. The Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials highlights the need for establishing and maintaining a common interoperable EU Geological Knowledge Base. Such a Knowledge Base will support exploration for indigenous mineral resources and strengthen policy and decision making. In 2010, the European Commission identified 14 non energy non-agricultural raw materials as being critical. Criticality is based on both the scarcity of supply and the importance to European industry. This list was updated in 2014 to include 7 new commodities with one being dropped from the original list. The list now comprises: antimony, beryllium, borates, chromium, cobalt, coking coal, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesite, magnesium, niobium, phosphate rock, platinum group metals, light and heavy rare earth elements (separately), silicon metal and tungsten. ProMine was a European Union (EU) co-funded project, which had as its main objective the stimulation of the extractive industry to deliver new products to manufacturing industry. A major deliverable of the project was the ProMine Mineral Deposit (MD) database that contains information related to almost 13,000 mineral deposits in Europe. In order to extract data to be displayed on the CRM map of Europe, the ProMine MD database was queried for all commodities on the EC CRM list which were in the medium to super-large deposit size. Following this, the dataset was circulated to MREG in order to verify, validate and update the list.

Large-scale mining of low-grade ores is energy-intensive and generates vast wastes. It has limited suitability for production of specialist metals that are required in relatively small quantities. An approach that limits environmental impact by restricting mining to high-grade deposits requires the investigation of small ore deposits as alternative sources of metals. The return on investment from small deposits is incompatible with the expensive surveys needed to secure investment and the high costs of managing risk. But increasing energy and transport costs may create space in the market for small-deposit mining with highly-competitive technological solutions. It can be argued that small-deposit mining is ethical because it must involve cooperation between mining companies and local residents who share a collective expectation and responsibility for their quality of life. However, small-deposit mining tends to be a limited, short-term initiative, which requires consideration of the extended ‘afterlife’ of mines. This manuscript is the culmination of five years of cross-sector dialogue and stakeholder engagement activities. It debates what constitutes a small deposit and describes the interactions between mining and manufacturing, investment, environment and society. It reaches the conclusion that technological innovations will support the re-emergence of small deposit mining as an important part of a diverse raw materials production sector. We do not suggest a return to past approaches, to mining of small, high-grade deposits, but a consideration of alternative narratives of localised, community-orientated mining processes, thus giving social, economic and environmental context to the needs of the present day.

Geology encompasses all of the Earth sciences and thus is multidisciplinary. It does not respect geopolitical borders, so requires teamwork across disciplines and between nations. Applying geological solutions to climate change increasingly requires transdisciplinary teamwork. This extends well beyond the geosciences to inform on issues of universal concern, e.g., deployment of renewable energy, management of groundwater resources, mitigation of climate-induced geohazards, and more. To achieve sustainability and success in these fields, it is essential to employ knowledge of subsurface, land, and subsea geology for the discovery, tracking, preservation, regulation, and exploitation of resources. This knowledge also supports integrated and coherent surface and subsurface spatial planning and the creation of cohesive laws guided by scientific insights. This in turn requires multi-stakeholder collaboration between scientific and governmental agencies, industry, and civil society, from research design to data and knowledge application. Such a broad spectrum of engagement is at the heart of the concept of a Geological Service for Europe, founded on a long history of collaboration between the Geological Surveys of Europe –extending networks, fostering innovation, sharing knowledge, building capacity and common standards. Given the current lack of public knowledge and negative perceptions of geology, collaborative efforts based on objective science can have a significant impact on building trust. This contribution highlights the collaboration of the Geological Surveys of Europe with non-geoscientific partners in serving society, supporting nature, and delivering the Green Deal.

The underground holds indispensable resources for European society, but they need a careful management relying on shared knowledge. To address transnational and continental-scale subsurface problems, geoscientific data need to be harmonized beyond national borders.Started in September 2022 for a duration of five years and based on these principles, GSEU has the following objectives:-To develop pan-European harmonised data and related information services with a focus on critical raw materials, geothermal energy resources and subsurface storage capacities for sustainable energy carriers and CO2 sequestration, groundwater dynamics and quality, geological and climate change information for coastal vulnerability assessment and geological baseline information;-To establish the European Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Resource Management to promote the deployment of the United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) and the United Nations Resource Management System (UNRMS);-To develop the geological data infrastructure - building on the existing EGDI - to provide permanent access to and dissemination of the data and information services developed under the project;-To provide a common European Geological Knowledge Base Platform as the single open access portal to the project results and to the underlying data and information collections and infrastructures of partners at national and regional level;-To further strengthen the network of national and regional geological survey organisations to provide geological knowledge and services in a sustainable manner. International audience