Abstract
Copper raw materials have not been identified as a critical raw material for the economy of the European Union (EU). Demand for metal for use within the EU is satisfied mainly by imports of raw materials in various processing stages and from recycling. Imports include not only copper concentrates, but also refined metals, alloys, and intermediate and finished products. In terms of EU imports, mining supplies represent a minor share of demand. It is likely that copper demand will grow in the coming decades and that global as well as European reserves of copper will be depleted more rapidly. For Europe, no complete and harmonised dataset presenting estimates of total EU copper resources and reserves exists, with the exception of the attempted Minerals4EU project. In colloquial language, many imprecise concepts aim at describing reality. Classic probability tools cannot be used to describe imperfect information. There are no sharp thresholds between the boundaries of many measurements; instead, smooth transitions are observed. This gradation between full and partial membership and non-membership is not included in classical set theory; thus, the capacity for describing such effects is provided by fuzzy set theory. An attempt is made in the present paper at a fuzzy description of the copper reserve base in the EU countries. The basic terminology of fuzzy sets is presented and useful logical operators are indicated. The copper reserve base in the EU countries was assessed in relation to world reserves and an appraisal of this base within these countries was carried out.
Highlights
Copper, known even to the most ancient civilisations, is characterised by a 10,000-year-old history
In European Union countries, copper ore deposits of economic importance have been identified in Poland, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Portugal, and Bulgaria
The Minerals4EU project is the only European Union (EU)-level repository of some data for copper resources and reserves, but this information does not provide a complete picture for Europe
Summary
Known even to the most ancient civilisations, is characterised by a 10,000-year-old history. The fuzzy approach to the assessment of mineral deposit parameters is not widely used, such approximations have been made. Bárdossy and Fodor [13] indicated the usefulness of fuzzy approximation and Bayesian inference in evaluations of the resource base and the quality of bauxite deposits. Tutmez [15] presented a fuzzy method and fuzzy algorithms for a grade estimation based on theoretical and real studies on the Afsin-Elbistan lignite deposit. Selected non-adjustable and adjustable s-norm and t-norm fuzzy operators were demonstrated in the work of Krzak and Panajew [24] and preliminarily tested on the example of the exploitation blocks in one of the copper mines belonging to KGHM Polish Copper S.A. Ozkan et al [25] compared the conventional approach to the estimation of geostatistical mineral resources with an approximation based on a fuzzy logic model. The most recent papers worth mentioning are [27,28,29,30]
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