SARMa - NATIONAL LEGISLATION QUESTIONNAIRE
WP4. Activity 4.1
REPORT
NAME OF THE COUNTRY: Greece
NAME AND COMPANY OF AUTHORS:
- Chalkiopoulou Fotini, Mining Engineer, Mineral Processing Dpt, Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploitation (IGME)
- Papantoni Hara, Mineral Resources Engineer, MSc, IGME - External Assistant
PLACE AND DATE OF THE REPORT: Athens, June 2010
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SARMa - NATIONAL LEGISLATION QUESTIONNAIRE
SARMa - NATIONAL LEGISLATION QUESTIONNAIRE
WP4. Activity 4.1
REPORT
1. Does your country have a law (or act) on mining (ie. exploration and exploitation of primary aggregates)? If yes, please give its title, number, year of issue, and the implementing legislation relevant to primary (natural) aggregates. Table format is preferred in case of more legislation.
Mining in Greece (including ores, industrial minerals, marbles and aggregates) is ruled by a series of laws, regulations, etc. The Greek legislation separates mineral resources into two major groups, on the basis of the difference in ownership rights:
· Ores, the exploitation of which is governed by the Mining Code (MC) 210/1973 and by definition (Articles 1-3) do not belong to the owner of the land and their exploration and exploitation right should always be concessed
· “Quarrying minerals”, including industrial minerals, marbles and aggregates that belong to the landowner of the occurrence and are exploited principally according to L. 669/1977.
Law 1428/1984 and its basic amendment L. 2115/1993, specialized the legislative framework for the exploitation of primary aggregates. Interventions in several points of the basic legislative framework have been made by the laws:
· L. 2576/1998, article 8, paragraph 4
· L. 2702/1999, articles 6 & 8
· L. 2837/2000, article 7
· L. 2947/2001, article 9, paragraph B1
· L. 3190/2003, article 19
· L. 3335/2005, articles 13 & 17
· L. 3438/2006, article 14
Law 1428/1984 and its amendments contain all the essential issues related to the exploitation of primary aggregates, such as: exploitation rights, process for definition of “quarrying areas”, licensing process related to mining, instalment and operation of machinery, obligations of the quarry operator, authorization process, treatment of illegal quarrying, process for exploitation of public quarries, etc.
Further and above specific legislative framework for exploitation of aggregates, as far as environmental issues are concerned, quarrying activity is ruled by L. 1650/1986 “ For environmental protection”, as amended by L. 3010/2002, and all related laws, regulations, decisions, etc. All projects and activities that require environmental licensing are grouped and classified into categories (A, B) and subcategories (A1, A2, B3, B4). Aggregate extraction is classified in subcategory A2. Depending on the subcategory, different type of environmental study needs to be submitted for evaluation and approval. For project/activity of subcategories A1 and A2 that are located in a protected area, such as Natura 2000, the following procedure is the one of subcategory A1. The approval of Environmental Conditions is given either by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change or by Joint Ministerial Decisions (JMDs) of the latter and other ministries or by the General Secretary of the relevant Region (regional level) or by the relevant Prefecture (local level) depending mainly on the subcategory of the activity in question. The submission of an Environmental Impact Assessment Study (EIAS) or Environmental Report (ER) is obligatory and the exploitation licence is granted after the approval of the Environmental Conditions (EC). The latter is usually valid for 5 years.
The exploitation of aggregates is permitted only within the legally defined “Quarrying Areas” (QAs) on the level of the Prefecture. In certain cases, exploitation permits, outside the specified QAs can be granted. The exploitation license is granted for 20 years with the possibility to extend it for another 5 + 5 (in total 10) years.
Table 1: Classification of projects/activities into groups and categories
Type of project/activity / First Category (Α) / Second Category (Β)1st sub-category (Α1) / 2nd sub-category (Α2) / 3rd sub-category (Β3) / 4th sub-category (Β4)
1. Primary aggregates extraction:
a) for cement production / All
b) all other cases / All
2. Quarrying zones of aggregates / All
3. All cases of sand mining / All except at rivers/streams / At rivers/streams
4. All cases of clay mining / All
5. Exploration works and bores of extracting activities / All
6. Stockpiling activities of aggregates from technical works / > 10.000 m2 / ≤10.000 m2
The main feature of the Greek legislative framework for aggregates is the vast number of amendments to the principal laws and decisions. In order to simplify the licensing procedure and facilitate the whole process for aggregates production, a bill has already been prepared. This bill aims to update the relevant legislation by codification of the existing Greek laws and amendments, and achieving convergence with the European legislation at the same time.
2. Who is the original owner of primary aggregates (central state, local government, private landowner, etc.)? Are there any exceptions?
The private landowner or the owner of concession rights to whom were legally granted by the land owner holds the rights for the exploitation of primary aggregates in Greece.
When the land does not belong to a private landowner, Peripheries or Municipalities organize bidding auctions and private citizens or private corporations may participate in order to obtain concession of exploitation royalties by leasing contracts. Leasing contracts last 20 years with the possibility to be extended for another 5 + 5 (total 10) years. Competent authorities for this procedure depend on the type of the land owner:
· If land belongs to the public, auction is organized by the relevant Periphery
· If land belongs to the municipalities, auction is organized by the Municipality, after the approval of the Prefecture
3. Does your country have a national primary aggregate resources (and mining waste) registry (or inventory)?
A database has been compiled by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate change containing information on the designated QAs, as well as the licensed quarries all over Greece, recently and is available in the website: http://www.latomet.gr/ypan/Default_GIS.aspx. This database was developed within a project co funded by the 3rd Community Support Framework entitled “Development of an Integrated Information System for the creation of a digital database containing spatial data of mining and quarrying places in Greece”. Maps containing quarrying areas in Greece and aggregate quarries in Greece are given in Images 1 and 2 respectively. Scale chosen is 1:5.120.000 and zoom in is allowed till 1:40.000. Spatial information is included, as placing the mouse in every place in the maps in the website gives its x, y coordinates. (Relative website: www.latomet.gr)
The Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (IGME) has also undertaken a project co funded by the 3rd Community Support Framework entitled “Integrated management of decorative stones, aggregates and mine waste – Development techniques of abandoned quarries”. Within this project, evaluation of aggregates and contribution to the management of quarrying areas were accomplished. Besides, IGME registered all active aggregate quarries in a database (the second one), including quantitative and qualitative data. All studies and relevant maps are ready, but the way all this data may be available to the stakeholders has not been decided yet.
Regarding mining waste, we can say the following. Occasional recording and mapping of mining waste has been accomplished by various organisations. Among them, IGME has carried out extensive research on the issue and the results are included in several reports that can be found in the library of the Institute.
Furthermore, the mining companies are obliged to submit activity bulletin regularly to the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate change, which are confidential.
However, a dynamic national registry of mining waste has not been yet established, so far.
Image 1 Map of Greece containing “quarrying areas” - QAs (green spots - ) (http://www.latomet.gr/ypan/Default_GIS.aspx)
Image 2 Map of Greece containing aggregate quarries (dark green spots - ) (http://www.latomet.gr/ypan/Default_GIS.aspx)
4. If yes, who is the managing agency?
The managing agency of the national primary aggregate resources registry is the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate change, since it is the responsible authority for mine supervision. Local Government Organizations have to register all mining activities that take place in their region and keep the ministry informed in every change.
5. Does it contain annual aggregates production data?
Regarding the official national database of the Ministry, the access to data is limited to few users. Since the companies have to submit activity bulletins, it is most possible that such data are available but not publishable.
In addition, the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (IGME) has undertaken a project co funded by the 3rd Community Support Framework entitled “Integrated management of decorative stones, aggregates and mine waste – Development techniques of abandoned quarries”. Within this project, evaluation of aggregates and contribution to the management of quarrying areas were accomplished and an atlas of crushed aggregates of active quarries in Greece was created. Annual aggregates production data, as given in this project is shown in Table 2 and Figure 1.
Table 2: Annual aggregates production data per periphery in Greece in tones (2008)
Peripheries / Annual aggregates production data per periphery (tonnes)Attica / 17.230.060
Central Macedonia / 12.148.500
Thessaly / 11.803.000
Crete / 10.822.850
Peloponnese / 10.798.350
Sterea Ellada / 7.236.650
Epirus / 5.397.400
West Greece / 5.390.500
Eastern Macedonia and Thrace / 4.715.600
West Macedonia / 4.402.500
South Aegean / 4.039.178
Ionian Islands / 2.339.000
North Aegean / 1.871.960
Total / 98.195.548
Figure 1: Annual aggregates production data per periphery (2008)
Total Greek annual aggregates production reached 98.195.548 tonnes in 2008. Eighty seven percent (87 %) of aggregate quarries in Greece does not exceed the production of 800.000 tonnes of aggregates per year. Concerning the extracted materials, their distribution is shown in Figure 2.
Table 3: Annual production of aggregate categories (2008)
Aggregates types / Percentage (%)Sand (0 - 5 mm) / 35
Gravel / Granule (5 - 12 mm) / 23
Pebble (12 - 30 mm) / 14
Cobble ( + 30 mm) / 14
3A (0-30mm) / 14
Figure 2: Annual production of the different aggregates types (2008)
As investigated within this project, total reserves of aggregates in Greece are 3.637.000.000 tonnes. Taking into account the production rate, which is approximately 98.000.000 tonnes per year, these reserves are sufficient for 37 years.
6. Does it contain generated mining waste volumes data?
An inventory specific to mining and quarrying waste has not yet been established in Greece. Data concerning the annual production of mining and quarrying waste are normally included in the activity bulletin submitted to the Ministry of Energy by the companies. These data are entered in the latomet DataBase of the Ministry, since 2008.
7. Does your country have a national secondary aggregate resources inventory, if not, can these data be extracted from national industrial waste registry?
The Greek market needs in aggregates are covered mainly with crushed rock aggregates and occasionally by sand mining, due to plenty of carbonate rocks appropriate for aggregates production.
Secondary aggregates are mainly produced from mining waste (i.e. waste from magnesite mining and processing or slags, as well as the gangue from the lignite extraction in power plants). Also, marble waste fines are normally used for the production of marble dust.
According to the Greek legal framework (Article 3 L. 1428/1984 as amended by article 2 L. 2115/1993), aggregates excavated during exploitation of all kinds of minerals may be supplied by the operator under the condition that the relevant fiscal terms are applied (i.e. payment of the proportional rent).
Moreover, a bill has been prepared referring to demolition waste that has not yet become legal. Thus, there is no inventory for secondary aggregate resources and the relevant information can only be extracted from the activity bulletin of mining industries that produce waste and by-products appropriate for aggregates, as well as industries producing slags (i.e. General Mining and Metallurgical Company S.A. - LARCO S.A.).
As far as the magnesite exploitation waste is concerned, approximately 150.000 tonnes of aggregates (mainly 0-30mm, 3A) are produced annually. These aggregates are used mainly for road construction as well as for restoration works within the mine.
Occasionally, marble waste is used for aggregates production especially for nearby technical works. The annual quantity produced is neither stable nor known.
LARCO S.A. is one of the five largest ferronickel producers in the world and its annual slag production from Larymna site reaches 1.700.000 tonnes. Approximately 450.000 tonnes of this slag is used in cement industry, as an additive in Portland cement or as a substitute for aggregates, as well as in road construction as a substitute for limestone. Approximately 150.000 tonnes is sold in sand-blast production industries while a portion of the overall slag production is used by building element producers (bricks, tiles, etc). The rest of the slag is disposed off at sea.
8. What is the licensing process of giving access to the exploration (prospecting) and exploitation of aggregates?
9. Who are the competent licensing authority and the obligatory co-authorities (authority framework)?
In Greece, licensing of an aggregates activity comprises:
· Decision of approval of Environmental Conditions (Environmental permit). Licensing authority may be:
o Ministry/ies (in case of important impacts and occurrence of protected areas)
o General Secretariat of the competent periphery (normal cases)
o Prefecture (Sand mining)
· Decision of approval for Intervention. The responsible authority is the competent Forest Service
· Exploitation licence. The responsible authority is the competent Prefecture
· Other types of licences
o Machinery Installation and Operation license. The responsible authority is Mine Service of the competent Peripheral Administrative
o Construction and operation of explosives and blasting caps warehouse licence