The Government adopted on Thursday’s meeting a draft law approving the geological programme at national level, aiming, among other things, to provide the necessary data for the basis of calls for future exploration works, reads a press release of the Executive.
The programme is intended to increase the knowledge of the geological potential of mineral resources available at national level by carrying out nation-wide geological prospecting and research.
The specific objectives of the geological programme are as follows: to provide the necessary data for the basis of calls of the future exploration works; to update information on the useful national mineral substances’ source; to provide studies/synthesis reports for the assessment and interpretation of information; to support central and local authorities in setting up future economic development programmes based on the raw materials base, namely useful minerals identified at national, regional and local level.
At the same time, according to the press release, the received works and goods will enter state property and the administration of the Ministry of Economy, and are due to be handed over to National Agency for Mineral Resources (ANRM) and, as the case may be, to the Ministry of Waters and Forests, on the basis of a handover protocol.
“Research works in the potable and industrial groundwater field, in prospecting, exploration, identification and resource allocation activities can be performed by holders on the basis of regulatory acts issued by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Waters and Forests. Contract holders have the obligation to remedy the environment damaged by the prospecting and exploration works, in accordance with the specific legislation regarding the restoration of areas where the soil, subsoil and terrestrial ecosystems have been affected, as well as the legislation specific to waste management in the extractive industry,” the Government press release specifies.