Germany hosts third successful ECMP event

"FOLLOWING earlier successful conferences at Zwolle in The Netherlands, in 1997, and Harrogate in England, in 1999, the third European Conference on Mineral Planning (ECMP) took place last month in Krefeld, Germany, at the heart of one of the country’s most import mineral resource regions."

"Organized by the Geological Survey of North Rhine-Westphalia, the three-day event was attended by 260 delegates from governments, industry, non-governmental and nature conservation organizations in 17 countries, predominantly in northern, north-western, central and eastern Europe."

"The theme of the 2002 conference was ‘Raw Materials Planning in Europe –– Change of Conditions! – New Perspectives?’. During the first two days of the event over 35 papers were presented and discussions took place, focused largely on the issue of sustainability in mineral extraction and supply, recognizing that in practice minerals are a finite, non-renewable resource."

"Among the speakers from various European countries were a small number from Great Britain, including Lester Hicks of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, who outlined the development of the aggregates levy in the UK; Christopher Hall from the British Ceramics Federation, who discussed the relevance of sustainability to planning for brick clay; and Chris Norman of West Lothian Council, who looked at the role of the regulator in ensuring compliance with environmental controls in order to safeguard the community and the environment when things go wrong."

"The event concluded on the third day with site visits to the Garzweiler opencast lignite mine in the Rhenish District, to the Flendersbach lime plant in Wülfrath (the largest lime plant in Europe), and to a family owned sand and gravel operation with associated hydraulic engineering and shipping activities on the Lower Rhine."

"Further details about the conference, including the key messages and calls for action, will appear in a special ECMP ’02 report in next month’s issue."