EuroGeoSurveys contributes to stimulate investment in the exploration and exploitation of EU mineral resources assets

EuroGeoSurveys at the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials Annual Conference

Innovation is the key word to ensure the future supply of raw materials. This is the message launched by Mr. Calleja Crespo, Director General of DG Grow, during the EIP on Raw materials Annual Conference that took place on the 13th and 14th of January 2015.

After the first successful call for Raw Materials where 80 commitments have been accepted with the participation of 800 partners all around EU, now it is time to put in action the commitments and make them effective. Exploiting this Conference to exchange knowledge, to present project ideas, and to reinforce networking is the second message that Mr Crespo conveyed to the audience. In fact he encouraged participants to see the two-day event as an opportunity for finding partners in order to write a successful proposal. To support all these actions, a vibrating posters session and a Brokerage Event were organized, in which participants had the opportunity to interact and cooperate.

In this framework the Geological Surveys play an important role in the EIP on RM implementation, as Mr. Verbruggen, President of EuroGeoSurveys, highlighted during his keynote speech in the High Level Panel. The EGS Members are indeed involved in up to 29 of the 80 commitments. Projects such as Promine, which produces the main mineral deposits map of Europe, or EURARE, showing the Greenland mining potential and setting the basis for the development of a European Rare Earth Element (REE) industry, demonstrate the contribution that the Geological Surveys can give to the EIP on RM, helping Europe to become independent from the countries that today export mineral resources. The support to the EIP on RM and to the Knowledge Innovation Community (KIC), has been presented by EGS during the poster session. The poster promoted the contribution by the Geological Surveys of Europe to provide public and free geological data, harmonized, and providing a common data model for future acquisitions. The European Minerals Intelligence Network Structure that will be created by Minerals4EU Project is an example of such a contribution.

As it was highlighted by Mr. Cassard, Deputy Chair of the EGS Mineral Resources Expert Group, the aim of EGS Commitment EUMINET – towards the European Union Raw Materials Knowledge Base, is to stimulate investment in the exploration and exploitation of EU mineral resources assets, as well as to provide data, knowledge and tools for their sustainable management. This is what EGS is doing, building upon the EGDI-Scope and Minerals4EU projects.