Mineral raw materials of Serbia on the list of critical minerals of the European Commission (CRM EU-2020) during the Covid-19 pandemic and harmonized in the UNFC-2009 system and the PERC standard

Abstract

The existence of mineralization, mining and deposits of non-ferrous and precious and other metals (Pb-Zn, Ag; Cu, Au, as well as B-Li, Mg, Sb, etc.) in the territory of Serbia is conditioned by the structural-geological-metallogenetic structure and processes formation of deposits of mineral raw materials in a certain period of geohistorical development. Mining activity in the territory of Serbia, i.e. extraction of non-ferrous and precious metal ores, goes back thousands of years, which resulted in the "production" of significant accumulations of mining and industrial waste. These facts indicate the existence of a significant mineral potential of Serbia, and the possibility of recovering metals through technological processes of waste material recycling. Mineral deposits are the primary sources, and accumulated mining and industrial waste are secondary sources of providing mineral resources such as Cu, Pb-Zn, Co, Ni, Al, Li, W, Bi, In, Te, Ga, Ge, REE and others, many of which are on the list of CRM EU-2020 or 2023. Critical minerals as a professional-formal term is not defined in Serbia, and in due to the specific way and extent of occurrence in nature, exhaustibility and non-renewable reserves, as well as the provision of certain countries or regions with solid mineral resources in certain socio-economic conditions (world crises, wars, embargoes, pandemics, etc.) become deficient, i.e. missing (on the market), i.e. in terms of supply chain. During the Covid 19 pandemic, publicly available data on critical raw materials in Serbia were analyzed, when it was assessed that e.g. for the supply chain of the health sector, only ten of them are available (Sb, Ba, B, Ge, In, Mg, F, ...). The solid mineral raw materials of Serbia classified into categories and classes of geological reserves (classes of mineral resources and reserves) can, for certain reporting purposes, be harmonized with the Mineral Resources/Reserves from international standards (PERC, JORC, Ni-43 101 and codes of UNFC).