Problems of social acceptance of mining activities and ways of minimizing them in the EU countries

Abstract

Social acceptance for mining activity is one of the important elements determining its success. In addition to formal and legal conditions related to the nature of protection and spatial planning, it is one of the major barriers that limit or even hold back this activity. Over the last several years, a constant increase in such unacceptance can be observed in both Poland and most of the European countries, although the degree of occurrence of this phenomenon is diverse. It is confirmed by surveys carried out by the author as part of the already completed EU Minerals4EU project. The paper discusses the results of these studies and attempts to explain the reasons for the negative attitude of societies to mining activity. The activities undertaken to change the attitude are also presented, in particular the Social Impact Assessment (SIA). The objectives of the assessment are similar to the purposes of generally applicable Environmental Impact Assessments: identification of all possible limitations of planned exploitation, and their evaluation and minimization, necessary to obtain a favourable environmental decision, and, in the case of the SIA, to obtain social acceptance for the planned mining investment. In some EU countries, e.g. Denmark and Greenland, the development of a separate SIA report is a compulsory element of concession proceedings. The paper discusses the adopted formal scope of this document and the advantages of such a solution, enabling the anticipated operation of the future investor to achieve the planned goal.