The ambitious training programme of the PanAfGeo Project is now a reality. The first training of “WP2 – MINERAL RESOURCES ASSESSMENT” will be held from 5 June 2017 to 16 June 2017 in Windhoek, Namibia. PanAfGeo WP2 will organise seven training sessions in “Mineral Resources Assessment” across Africa during 2017-2019, some of which will be held in English, French and possibly Portuguese. The second Training session will take place in Nigeria in November 2017.   BACKGROUND “PanAfGeo” for “Pan-African Support to the EuroGeoSurveys-Organisation of African Geological Surveys (EGS-OAGS) Partnership” is a project which supports the training of geoscientific staff from African Geological Surveys through the development of an innovative training programme that includes the acquisition and development of important professional skills that complement their qualifications and technical skills. The training programme is carried out by world-class geoscientific experts coming from African and European Geological Surveys. PanAfGeo is co-funded by the European Commission (Directorate-General of Development and International Cooperation) and by a Consortium of 12 European Geological Surveys coordinated by the French Geological Survey (BRGM). To find out more about PANAFGEO training programme please visit...

International cooperation on natural resources: geoscientists’ contribution to enhanced governance, policy making and attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals EuroGeoSurveys will attend the “International cooperation on natural resources: geoscientists’ contribution to enhanced governance, policy making and attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals” Conference that will be held on the 9-10 February 2017 at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, in Brussels. EuroGeoSurveys Secretary General Luca Demicheli will be present at the Panel Session Socio-economic and environmental drivers for natural resources development and management on the 10th of February. The conference will foster the convergence of terminology and the comparability/compatibility of data, thus contributing to the creation of a solid European Knowledge Database on mineral and energy resources. Such harmonization is equally important to government policymakers and to companies and regulators within the energy and minerals industries, including the users and providers of data on energy and minerals reserves and resources and renewable energy. UNFC will be reviewed, including its potential for application in Europe and beyond and its relationship with other classification and public reporting systems. There will be presentations from speakers representing a range of relevant UNECE and European policy areas linked to energy and minerals, as well as from international and European experts drawn from regulatory authorities, industry and non-governmental organizations. There will also be contributions from representatives of fossil and renewable energy companies, the mining industry and academia. The event is co-organized by the European Federation of Geologists (EFG) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).   [source: EFG...

World Forum on Raw Materials Project launched PRESS RELEASE Brussels, 30th  November, 2016 17h00 – 18h30 OREGA Brussels Leopold Rue du Commerce, 123 – Brussels   The FORAM project was launched in Brussels during the first Raw Materials Week, organized by the European Commission. To date it is the largest collaborative effort to improve worldwide cooperation on securing access, promoting innovation and fostering sustainable mining, recycling and use of raw materials. Apart from key stakeholders from governments, research and industry in Europe the project brings together partners from Japan, the USA, and other G20 countries, as well as key countries active in the mining and other raw materials sectors. As Mr. Marcin Sadowski, Head of the Raw Materials Sector at the EC Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) stated, FORAM supports the EU International Cooperation Strategy on Raw Materials and he expects that the project will be an essential contribution to its success and international uptake. Mr. Mathias Schluep, FORAM project leader, from the Swiss based World Resources Forum, said, “common approaches and solutions for both primary and secondary raw materials will be identified. The event was organized and hosted by the EuroGeoSurveys, The Geological Surveys of Europe, (EGS) and brought together close to 100 enthusiastic participants, ranging from policy makers, industry, academia and research institutions who concluded that the ambitious initiative will need to be inclusive, open, and built upon the successes of related European and global initiatives in this field. Mr. Jaco Huisman, from the United Nations University, in charge for the identification of FORAM key challenges and priorities, said: “The raw materials field is a dynamic environment with lots of initiatives and projects. However, many actors are still working in silos. It is important to track relevant information flows,...

The 6th Trilateral EU-US-Japan Conference on Critical Materials Strategies for Sustainable Supply of Critical Raw Materials November 29th, 2016 The 6th Trilateral EU-US-Japan Conference on Critical Materials will be held on the 29th November 2016 at the Breydel Auditorium of Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) of the European Commission, during the first edition of the Raw Materials Week. EuroGeoSurveys will be at the forefront during the week. Mr Luca Demicheli, EuroGeoSurveys Secretary General, will be chairing the Session 1: Criticality and risks analysis. The Session will tackle the following topics: material flows and stocks Analysis; methodology for assessing critical materials; raw materials data and information for policy making. The Director General of the Geological Survey of Japan (GSJ), Eikichi Tsukuda, will attend the event. For more information about the Raw Materials...

  During the Thirteenth GEO Plenary Meeting, held in St Petersburg, Russian Federation, on 9-10 November 2016, representatives from the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) 103 Member governments and 106 Participating Organizations have assisted to launch of the new look of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) Portal. At the event, the GEO Principal and Secretary General of EuroGeoSurveys, Mr. Demicheli, declared “Over the years, GEO has demonstrated a constant evolution, especially in the provision of free data sharing, creating value-added products and services for the benefit of society; and today, with the involvement of the commercial sector, is making another step forward“. In this framework EuroGeoSurveys contributes through several projects such as Minerals4EU, EMODnet-Geology, EGDI and GEOCRADLE. Minerals4EU is the most comprehensive source of minerals statistics for Europe. It presents, for the first time, official national level statistical data for 40 European countries, including all European Union (EU) Member States, countries in accession and potential candidates, as well as European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members. All the data is accessible digitally only, through the European Minerals Knowledge Data Platform. The Minerals Yearbook published last year contains a unique and invaluable series of in-situ data, which will be freely served to GEOSS. The sustainability of Minerals4EU is now guaranteed by the set up of the Minerals4EU Foundation that can be a major pillar to the success of the GEOSS Energy and Mineral Resources SBA. The GEOSS Energy and Mineral Resources SBA is supported also by a new project, FORAM, which will establish a World Forum on Raw Materials, bringing together all major global players in the field and where EuroGeoSurveys is one of the partners involved. Concerning the marine environment, EuroGeoSurveys runs the geological component of the European Marine Observation Data Network...