ANALYSIS – SUSTAINABLE MINERALS REMIX for smart green mining Dr Elizabeth Adey and Professor Frances Wall Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter Industry experts across Europe, including the UK, are working together on a new project called REMIX that aims to bring innovation and sustainability into mining-related policies. U K researchers are still making the most of European partnerships. Cornwall is one of nine regions across Europe involved in the REMIX project. The focus of the project, which started officially in January 2017, is to encourage resource-efficient production of raw materials through environmentally and socially acceptable production methods. It will help to advance innovation in the regional mining value chains, especially the SME sector and for mineral resources that have an important role across it. Europe aims to increase self-sufficiency in the supply of critical minerals by 2050. Making progress towards this goal is essential to underpin longer-term stability and economic growth across many industries in Europe. Through the development of practical policy measures, growth relating to the mining industry, including the SME sector in particular, can be supported in many European regions. The stability and sustainability of the mining sector in Europe is essential to overall security and to achieving economic growth despite the challenges faced by globalisation and the need for change to a low carbon economy. REMIX is led by the Regional Council of Lapland and brings together ten partners with complementary resources, profiles and knowledge in regions at different stages of the mining cycle. During the 30-month first stage of the project, each region will host a meeting and peer review visit from the other REMIX members. The resulting comments and feedback will be used to help improve local policies. At the beginning of April 2017, the authors of this article from the Camborne School of Mines, at the University of Exeter, which is the UK REMIX partner in Cornwall, travelled to Kemi in the Lapland region of Finland for the ‘kick-off’ meeting. Partners on the REMIX project are to be accompanied to each meeting by a variety of stakeholders with varied sectoral experience and influence in their own region. The team from Cornwall included REMIX partners visit the Outokumpu chromite mine in Kemi, Finland Nathan Cudmore from Cornwall Council (Economic Planning and Strategy Lead – Economic Development and Culture, Economic Growth and Development) and Matthew Vowels from Cornwall Development Company, a capital/project funding specialist who liaises with local mining companies. Regional expertise Cornwall, with its UNESCO Mining World Heritage site status, is probably most famous now for its closed mines and iconic engine houses rather that its contemporary mining industry. South Crofty, the last operational major metal mine in Cornwall, closed in 1998, but Cornwall still has world-class china clay extraction operations run by Imerys, a variety of quarries ranging from slate to granite, and several ongoing tin, tungsten and lithium exploration projects, plus the UK’s only multidisciplinary mining school in the University of Exeter’s Camborne School of Mines. The region’s concentration of mining expertise led to the creation of the Cornwall Mining Alliance (CMA) in 2016 (www.cornwallminingalliance.org ), an 82 member-strong organisation that aims to maximise the potential of innovative businesses, organisations and experienced professionals who provide services across all aspects of mining and related industries in the UK and around the world. The World Heritage site, in place since 2006, creates an interesting need to balance the safe-guarding of minerals for future use whilst celebrating and preserving Cornish heritage. REMIX provides an opportunity to help Cornwall Council, the Local Enterprise Partnership, CMA members and other stakeholders in the mining sector in Cornwall, engage and learn from best practices in other European regions. We will gain an understanding of how other regions have helped develop effective mining policy to promote growth, looking at how supply chain integration at a regional level can create opportunities for SMEs to collaborate further to enhance their competitiveness on projects. Quarries & Mines 2017/18 13