Upon accession to the European Union, economic growth became accelerated in Poland, resulting in a boost in infrastructure development. This led to a marked growth in demand for natural sand-gravel aggregates and other raw materials used in road construction. To meet the demand for suitable raw materials, the Ministry of Environment commissioned the Polish Geological Institute–National Research Institute to start a re-evaluation of earlier raw material prognoses assessments in order to delineate prognostic areas for development of new resources. The re-evaluation has been conducted by the PGI-NRI within the frame of the compilation of the Geoenvironmental Map of Poland at the scale of 1:50 000, making it possible to identify potential conflicts with land-use plans as well as already established NATURA 2000 and other natural heritage conservation designations and more or less continuous built up areas which preclude or at least impede exploitation of mineral raw materials. The analyses also covered economic factors related to costs of transport and the current economic criteria of mineral resources and reserves. At the first stage of the project (between 2008 and 2012) the re-evaluation was conducted in 432 prognostic areas with a total area of over 33 thousands of hectares. According to the current economic criteria of sand-gravel aggregate deposits there were estimated resources of over 5 mld tons, of which around 3 mld tons of aggregates were suitable for road investments and over 2 mld tons of aggregates were suitable for construction. The work has made it possible to re-evaluate the occurrences of natural aggregates in the vicinities of urban centers and along corridors delineated for selected planned motorways and expressways as well as those under construction. The study was compiled especially for business entities involved in construction projects or the exploitation of mineral resources and state administrative units as a tool to support land-use planning and management at the level of individual communes, counties (poviats) and voivodeships. Re-evaluated prognostic areas data are gathered in spatial database and are available through WMS service on the Geoenvironmental Map of Poland portal (emgsp.pgi.gov.pl).
Despite the absolute prohibition against minerals exploitation without having a mining concession, which was valid until the end of 2011, research conducted by the Polish Geological Institute–National Researching Institute has showed that minerals exploitation without having a mining concession has been prevalent all over the country, mainly that concerning sand and gravel aggregates. Unlicensed exploitation has a negative influence on the natural environment, lower landscape values as well as the State Treasury’s revenues. Actions taken by the geological administration bodies in order to punish a perpetrator have been ineffective. Administrative decisions that charged higher exploitation fees have been issued only in very few cases. But great majority of cases are discontinued after lengthy administrative proceedings. Attempts at liberalization the Geological and Mining Law dated 9 June 2011 (Journal of Laws No. 163, item 981), which since the beginning of 2012 has allowed owners of an area exploit sand and gravel aggregates for their own needs in amounts not greater than 10 m3 per year, do not contribute to eliminating this practice. A spatial database collecting information about points of unconcessioned minerals exploitation all over Poland has been operated since 2008, within the Geoenvironmental Map of Poland II – 1:50,000 scale managed by PIG-PIB. Only large mines and quarries have been taken into account (an area of more than 1 are). All points are verified during a site inspection, a full description and photographic documentation are made for every single working. There are over 2600 points of unconcessioned exploitation located in southern and south-western Poland currently included in the database. By the end of 2015, the registration of points in northern and north-eastern Poland will have been completed. The database with all the collected points is available at: emgsp.pgi.gov.pl.
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