| Abstract (english) | Since 2011, one of the major concerns of the European Commission is a sustainable supply of the raw materials critical for maintenance and development of the European industries (Ref 1). Among 28 critical raw materials listed by the European Commission Communication in 2020 (Ref 2), the ADRIA region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) hosts significant primary geological potential of antimony, barite, borate, lithium, magnesium and to some extent titanium, Rare Earth Elements (REE) and graphite. BOROJEVIĆ ŠOŠTARIĆ et al. (2022) indicated the major strengths of the regional mineral sector: favourable geological setting hosting significant mineral potential and reserves, a long mining tradition, numerous exploration targets, high exploration budget (Fig. 1), as well as the availability of extraction of the secondary raw materials. However, authors also found many challenges that the mineral sector faces, including lack of regional exploration campaigns, international codes and standards in resource estimation, as well as regulations related to environmental issues that do not comply with European legislation. New CRM Act (Ref 3) aim to strengthen the different stages of the European critical raw materials value chain. The implementation of the Act at the national member states level will include monitoring, data collection, guidelines development and coordination of the general exploration programmes; strategic national Raw Materials projects; permitting processes, Raw Materials related companies risk preparedness; specifying which end-of-life products and waste streams contain relevant amounts of critical raw materials; customs codes and recycling content for products incorporating permanent magnets; and the calculation and verification rules and performance classes for the environmental footprint. The implementation of the CRM Act to the West Balkan candidate countries is expected to follow their negotiation and harmonization process. Therefore, actions and measures proposed by the CRM Act such as National exploration programmes for general exploration targeted at critical raw materials including deep ore deposits, mineral mapping, geochemical campaigns, geophysical surveys, data processing, development of predictive maps, reprocessing of existing geoscientific survey data and development of database with Strategic national Raw Materials projects should be taken as serious steps in further development of the Adria region’s mineral sector in a sustainable manner. |
