Industrial minerals in the European market

The industrial minerals industry plays a key role in the European market. Most of the marketing strategies of this industry are already European. The industrial minerals make up about 60 % of world production of solid mineral commodities (for comparison: coal and lignite together are 30 % and metallic minerals about 10 %). Their value, however, represents only about 20 % of world production (cf. fuels 55 %, metallic raw materials 25 %). About 85 % of the commodities produced by this industry are sold to the construction industry, and the remaining 15 % to the iron and steel industry, chemical industry, agriculture, and glass and ceramics industries. In the Federal Republic of Germany, between 800 000 and 1 million t per annum of mineral products are used by the construction industry, which corresponds to almost 14 t per capita of the population. The building materials industry has an annual turnover of about DM 350 x 10 E 9 on the European market; German industry's share amounts to about 27 %. Due to the intensified construction activities in the „new“ federal states of Germany, this percentage will certainly increase in the future. The Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) has organized an International Symposium on Mineral Resources every three years since 1976. The 6th Symposium was held in October 1991 preliminary to the introduction of the European Single Market (EUROPE 1992). Three broad topics were dealt with: The European Market consists of and develops from the national markets; Influences to be expected from the changes in the „East“; Influences to be expected from governmental environment regulations. European integration will have a wide-ranging influence on the mineral resources sector and the opening up of Eastern Europe will provide an additional impulse to the changes that take place. In order to establish a functioning European Market we must still overcome a great number of obstacles and attain a measure of compatibility in the statutes and regulations that influence the market. The differing quality standards, for example, represent a significant obstacle to trade. Another field where harmonization of procedures would be beneficial is that of the environmental impact assessment and reclamation/recultivation.