The European Association of Mining Industries, Metal Ores & Industrial Minerals was founded in 1996 to represent several national mining associations mainly from Western Europe. Today the association is the recognized representative of the European metals and minerals mining industry and represents 19 national European federations and 28 companies as direct members from the whole Europe. Altogether large and small member companies and their subsidiaries in Europe and in other parts of the world provide jobs to more than 350,000 people. Through the activities and operations of these members, more than 42 different metals and minerals are produced. For some metals and minerals, Europe is the world's leading producer. The association facilitates the dialogue between the industry and the EU institutions and serves as a network for cooperation and for the exchange of information throughout the sector within Europe. It also provides a formal platform in which the members evaluate the impact of European and International policies and legislation on the industry and define common positions and actions. The association also fosters contacts with the mining community throughout the world. The association is based in Brussels and holds membership meetings twice a year. Its working committees and groups meet regularly throughout the year. Its major activities cover the areas of environment, health and safety, resource-efficiency, energy and climate change, research and development, and international cooperation.
The extractive industry contributes to sustainable development by integrating economic growth with environmental protection, social progress and effective governance. Euromines' members have set forth and adhere to a series of guidelines for sustainable development in the European mining sector. These guidelines are based on the precept that access to and use of minerals and metals are essential to a sustainable society, to society’s well-being and to economic development. The Guidelines for Sustainable Development state: The economic aspect The environmental aspect The social aspect
European Mining Sector : focused on Raw Materials Initiative
At the end of 2008 the European Commission published its Communication. Realizing it needed to address this very important issue at the highest level in order ensure security of raw material supply for its economic growth, Europe proposed a whole host of measures to improve its raw materials supply. Euromines welcomed this initiative wholeheartedly since in the past years a whole array of legislative measures and the lack of public awareness in Europe had made access to raw materials for the extractive industry as well as for the downstream industry more and more difficult and, at the best of times, time consuming. The availability and affordability of minerals are therefore important considerations for the competitiveness of much of European industry. The effect of the recent rapid increase in global demand for metals and metal ores, for example, clearly demonstrates the impact of constraining supplies of raw materials - price increases and bottlenecks in supplies – leading in some cases to production shutting down in Europe. This trend is expected to continue in the medium to long term as developing countries seek to improve the living standards of their populations.
