Roadmap for the sustainable management of mineral raw materials

In August 2021 the Council of Ministers approved the Roadmap for the sustainable management of mineral raw materials, initially proposed by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO and MITERD).

The roadmap is composed of 46 medium and long-term actions, including instruments to boost innovation and other provisions, which will take place between 2021-2023 in order to implement Spain’s Circular Economy Action plan. 

The measures are structured in 3 main axes:

1) efficiency, to reduce the consumption of raw materials

2) circularity, to increase the use of secondary raw materials

3) sustainability, so that the extractive activity implements best available techniques

All minerals are concerned, including the ones listed: strontium, fluorspar, tantalum, silicon and wolfram, and the deposits of antimony, barite, bismuth, cobalt, lithium and rare earths. 
The Roadmap calls for new regulatory instruments to ensure the alignment of the mining regulatory framework with the circular economy, promote environmental protection and restoration, and establish a mechanism of transparency and traceability of the origin of raw materials.  To this end, MITECO launched a public consultation in November 2022 for the preparation of a new Mining Law to modify Law 22/1973. 

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