MAPPING THE MINERAL RESOURCES DATA OF WEST BALKAN REGION INTO EXISTING EUROPEAN DATA MODEL

Abstract

Primary and secondary mineral resources are of strategic importance for the EU. Most EU countries (including Slovenia) are already part of the pan‐European Minerals Intelligence Network which provides consistent and organized data information on primary and secondary mineral resources on the European level. It was established in previous projects as EuroGeoSource, Minerals4EU, ProSUM, Mica and ORAMA. The Eastern and south Eastern European (ESEE) region represents a gap in this network, but at the same time is also identified as one of most important strategic regions for the EU with great potential for mineral supply. The large concerns are aiming to expand their business to the region, but access to relevant data interesting for the investors is still not available. There is a need for surveyed and unified mineral resources data. In the framework of RESEERVE (EIT RM KAVA project, duration 1.4.2018-31.3.2021), national mineral resources data of six task partners from West Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia) were implemented and harmonized with INSPIRE directive (European directive for organizing spatial data). Since EU directives are mandatory for members only and West Balkan countries are not yet targeted (except Croatia), they are still interested in their implementation. For that reason the main project goal is the creation of the West Balkan Mineral Register, provided by national data providers, which will represent a starting point to integrate the ESEE region into existing EU data platforms and bring it closer to common minerals market. Regional mineral data will become more accessible and relevant. The goal of the project is to anticipate the future supply and demand for minerals, particularly regarding critical minerals and therefore to contribute to the sustainable mineral supply in Europe. Leading partner for RESEERVE project is Geological Survey of Slovenia (GeoZS), which has identified relevant data providers and examined data quantity, quality and format. GeoZS will synthesize primary and secondary raw material data into common West Balkan Mineral Register and test the harvesting of data in INSPIRE compliant European data model. The scenarios drawn up in the project will be available through the European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI), which will offer easy access to existing mineral data. EGDI provides access to Pan-European and national geological 150 datasets and services from the Geological Survey Organizations of Europe. Through EGDI data from several European data harmonization projects are accessible. EGDI was launched in June 2016 in a Version 1 and has since then been extended to include more data sets, including mineral resources. The article is mostly focused on workflow harmonizing the data and spreading IT knowledge of mapping the national primary and secondary minerals data to already existing European data model and developing national relational databases, that fit into European common database structure. Data harmonization was already performed through national training workshops to assist task partners in taking the first step toward INSPIRE directive implementation.