Testing UNFC as a harmonized supporting tool for resource management in Europe

With the global increase in raw material demand comes the need for harmonized supporting tools for sustainable resource management in Europe. Europe needs to assess their resource potential, but the European countries do not have a common tool to aggregate information for continent-wide resource inventories. The United Nations Framework Classification for Resources (UNFC) is a system that may be used for this purpose.

One of the specific tasks in the MINTELL4EU project under the GeoERA programme is to test if the European geological surveys will be able to use UNFC as a tool to evaluate a country’s known and potential resources across variable levels of knowledge. The project will also show, if the application of UNFC can provide better harmonization of mineral resource data nationally and across Europe.

The work on UNFC in MINTELL4EU is based on case studies to gain experience. Based on the knowledge and lessons learned from the case studies, guidelines and recommendations for further work will be given. Preliminary results show that there is a need for a more harmonized system and that stricter guidelines are required. On top of this, there are different levels of experience in UNFC among the European geological surveys, and the approach and methods on UNFC varies between the countries.