Newsletter 2/2012 - Regional Development, Mining & Tourism

There remains a common assumption is that mining is always incompatible with other land uses, particularly conservation or natural land uses.

Although mining can have a significant ‘footprint’, the size and nature of the footprint varies with each project. Compatibility with other potential land uses can only be determined on a case-by-case basis in the process of planning land-use, mining and mine closure.

Today Swedish mining industry is booming with record of investments in exploration, expansion in existing mines, new mines opening and several new mines in the pipe. Leading technology and high performance in operation and plenty of jobs, based on international demand, geology rich in valuable mineralisation’s, a developed infrastructure, effective mining inspectorate and fairly balanced laws executed in environmental courts, boosts the mining industry as a motor of growth.

One of the key challenges for the mining industry in the Czech Republic is to show to the general public that places with mining history have a wide range of applications and are not  a negative factor in the development of the area. With appropriate regional management, a place previously described with negative connotations can be transformed into a geologically or biologically interesting site beneficial for the region as one of the centers of tourism.

A complex and diversified geology endows Portugal with a considerable mineral potential, leading to the occurrence of considerable number of ore, industrial and ornamental stone deposits.

Mining was, for hundreds of years one of the Bergslagen areas major sources of income, and for a long time the area was one of the worlds largest producers of metals, chiefly iron but also one or more of the elements Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Ag, Au, W, Co etc. However, dramatic changes during the post-war time reduced mining and its related businesses up to a point where it almost became extinct, and at the end of the 20-th century there was only a few mines left out of what had once been hundreds. The entire industry had practically vanished.

The mining industry of Cyprus was active in the production of minerals of copper, iron pyrite, gold, chromites as well as asbestos fibers.

Since 1979 the mining industry of Cyprus is in recession because of the exhaustion of the  known large and rich copper and iron pyrite ore bodies and the increase of the production cost without proportional increase in the international sale prices of metals.

The Troodos Ophiolite consists of four stratigraphic units, in ascending order: Plutonics (mantle sequence and cumulates), Intrusives, Volcanics and Chemical sediments.

The natural heritage of any country includes its geological heritage, made up of many key geosites, as well as landscapes, profoundly shaped and defined by their geological evolution and the resulting geological features. Fossils, rocks and minerals and the legacy of mining in Europe are just as much part of our natural heritage as living plants and animals. However, geological heritage, including historical mining, is frequently under-valued and under threat, even in countries that have relevant nature conservation legislation.

Milos belongs to the Greek island complex of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea. Most of Cycladic islands started to rise out of the Aegean Sea some 2.7 -1.8 million years ago, as the result of volcanic eruptions on land and beneath the sea, the activity of which continued for hundreds of thousands of years. The volcanic “heritage” of Milos consists of a broad range of minerals such as obsidian, pumice, sulfur, alunite, melian earth (kaolin), perlite, bentonite, manganese etc.

The Regional Policy promoted at a European level is an investment tool supporting social and economic growth as well as better integration through job creation, greater competitiveness, and an improved quality of life for long-term sustainable development. €347 billion has already been allocated by the EU for investment in local development in Europe's regions for the period 2007-2013 (INFOREGIO - European Commission, 2007).

The mutually beneficial relationship between mining and tourism is now more than obvious in hundreds of sites all over the world, for the reason that mine opening and closure provides socio-economic development opportunities for all stakeholders. Typically this is the positive product of a trilateral procedure of consultation that involves responsible mining companies, pro-active governments and rational communities.

Northeast Halkidiki is one of the best areas in Greece where alternative forms of tourism can co-exist. It perfectly blends 300 entire kilometres of coastline with three mountainous massifs in the hinterland, where lifestyles are diverse and unique.