Mining on Top: Africa – London Summit

PRESS RELEASE

Mining on Top: Africa – London Summit

24th-26th June 2015, Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, London, UK

Mr Verbruggen, President of EuroGeoSurveys (The Geological Surveys of Europe) and Director of the Geological Survey of Ireland, has been invited to be part of the high level panel of speakers in the Africa London Summit ‘Mining on Top’. The conference will be focused on creating a connection between nations, investors and industry leaders to drive economic and social development in Africa through mining. In this framework the key words will be: the importance to invest in infrastructure, the regeneration of Ebola-affected areas, and the political certainty. To face these important topics one of the essential steps is to identify the key market drivers and to understand the future outlook for Africa’s commodities. It is commonly acknowledged that African minerals resources are severely under-exploited, especially because still unexplored or classified, and in this regard Mr Verbruggen will focus on a specific EuroGeoSurveys project, based on the AU–EU geoscientific collaboration, ‘PanAfGeo’.

Minerals exploration and mapping is one of the main tasks of Geological Surveys. As Mr Verbruggen will explain during his speech, such information has a huge value, but is extremely difficult to produce as well as the collection, harmonization and sharing of geological map data on the African continent. Mapping geology is not easy. It requires skilled individuals and technical tools that several Geological Surveys in Africa are not able to afford.

It is then evident that one of the primary actions to boost development in Africa is to increase the capacities and competence of its geological administrations.

The strategy proposed by PanAfGeo focuses on establishing long-term strategic cooperation in the areas of: governance of natural resources, sustainable exploitation of non-energy mineral resources, prevention and mitigation of natural and man-made disasters and support to the development of the local mining private sector.

We invite you to attend Session n. 8 of Mining on Top: Africa on 26th June 2015 and to follow us on Linkedin to discover the main outcomes of the Summit.

EuroGeoSurveys (EGS), The Geological Surveys of Europe, is a not-for-profit organization representing 37 National Geological Surveys in Europe, with an overall workforce of several thousand scientists.

Links                     http://www.eurogeosurveys.org   http://euafrica-businessforum.eu

Contacts          For information please contact the EuroGeoSurveys Secretariat

36-38, Rue Joseph II- 1000 Brussels, Belgium           Tel +32 2 888 75 53

Communications Manager | Ms Claudia Delfini        claudia.delfini@eurogeosurveys.org

Communications Assistant | Ms Francesca Siciliano francesca.siciliano@eurogeosurveys.org