Italy groping for rare earths

The basic raw materials are also in Italy. However, their localization is still partial and summarized as in our country the National Mining Charter has not been updated for over 50 years. From Ispra, the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, they announce that the first mapping of mining sites located on national soil in the past 150 years is on its way.

Then it will be done To a qualitative assessment of the sites and the identification of a legal text for extractive waste, in order to determine the appropriate areas for excavation leading to the construction of a mining strategy. This is the roadmap for the National Critical Raw Materials Schedule that was enacted under Mise and the Mite with responsibilities that, under the Giorgia Meloni government, were transferred to Mase, the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security.

To get an idea now For what could be the future mining frontiers in our country, it is necessary to search for active exploration permits: a difficult task since there is no consolidated record, given that mining activities are subject to territorial autonomy. These statements have been looked at by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in the recently released first critical study assessing environmental and digital issues.

areas in which you operate The first research explorations were made in the Alpine arc (Piedmont and Lombardy) for the discovery of cobalt, platinum group metals and rare earths, in the sub-Tyrrhenian geothermal-volcanic belt (Tuscany-Lazie-Campania) and in that of the Apennine chain (from Alessandria in Pescara) for the discovery of lithium geothermal.

More details possible If you like Alberto Valls-Gris, PhD in Urban and Regional Development in the Department of Regional Sciences at the Polytechnic of Turin, who started sifting through regional publications and the website of the Australian mining company Altamin, an exploratory research in our country got several. After dealing with the environmental and social consequences of lithium mining in the Atacama region between Argentina and Chile, the researcher turned his attention to mining projects in Italy. He started from his native Piedmont, an area where research premises are concentrated in two areas: the area of ​​Punta Corna, in the Valle di Lanzo north of Turin (two permits, Usseglio and Balme for cobalt, but also nickel, copper and silver) and one of the largest extensions in Valsesia, especially for nickel and gold, There are 7 active licenses in 7 different regions.

As are permits Research It’s too early to talk about a potential opening of the mines, but some concerns about environmental impact are starting to circulate in the form of questions to regional advisors, critical articles, and statements to local media by municipal managers and environmental associations. Still following the traces of the extraction permits granted to the Australian company, which operates in Italy with the two subsidiaries Energia Minerals Italia and Strategic Minerals Italia, the Gorno project appears, related to the historic Riso-Parina mining complex, in the province of Bergamo, which envisages the reactivation of the zinc and lead mine (blende and galena) which Eni closed over twenty years ago

spent on this site More than 16 million euros for a series of interventions and research activities, but no resumption of mining activity yet. New exploration permits have also been obtained for copper, lead, zinc, silver, gold, cobalt, nickel, manganese and associated minerals in Liguria, in the region of Sestri Levante (Monte Benaco) and in the mines of Corcia, in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines in the region of Berceto (Reggio Emilia).