The 17th Meeting of European Heads of State Mining Authorities

The 17th Meeting of European Heads of State Mining Authorities, held in Cracow from 27 to 29 September 2011, focused on “Legal acts and experiences on post-mining area restoration; national approaches concerning the inventory according to Article 20 of Directive 2006/21/EC". Delegations from 13 European countries took part in the Meeting and presented 10 papers to the conference. Participants visited the city of Cracow and Wieliczka Salt Mine.
In the memorandum of the 17th Meeting it was stressed that it is important that European State Mining Authorities provide that effective legislation is in place and implemented to ensure that proper remediation takes place for any further mine closure, including adequate financial provision by the operator for all the remediation works.
The Meeting was held under auspices of Undersecretary of State Ministry of the Environment, Chief National Geologist, Henryk Jacek Jezierski and was included into the calendar of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council.
State Mining Authority organized the Meeting of European Heads of State Mining Authorities for a third time. Previous Meetings in Poland took place in Katowice in 1996 and in Wrocław in 2004.
It was decided that the next Meeting on the topic of “Mining activities in the context of modern land use management regulations" will take place next year in Austria. Further Meetings will be hosted by Serbia in 2013 and by Ireland in 2014.