Uncovering mineral potential of the Eastern and South-Eastern Europe

RESEERVE project aims to map the mineral sources of West Balkan countries. The six ESEE (Eastern and South-Eastern Europe) countries include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia. These countries have recently not been included in the existing data platforms. Therefore, the aim of the project is the creation of the West Balkan Mineral Register for primary and secondary mineral resources. The register will enable the integration of the region into a pan-European minerals intelligence network and will bring it closer to the common minerals market. The Mineral Register will be available by the end of 2020. Some selected data have already been harvested in the “European Minerals Knowledge Data Platform (EU-MKDP)” developed in the frame of the “Minerals4EU” project. These data are available on the European Geological Data Infrastructure platform, where the mineral data are updated continuously.

Boosting innovation and new opportunities for growth in the West Balkan region

The RESEERVE project represents the first step towards establishing fruitful collaboration amongst countries where there are no EIT RawMaterials partners yet. The geographical coverage of the European Minerals Inventory is being extended with data from the West Balkan countries, which is aligned with the EIT RawMaterials RIS (Regional Innovation Scheme) strategy.

RESEERVE results will increase the mineral management capacity of the West Balkan countries. Furthermore, the RESEERVE register will ensure a sufficient flow of mineral information for the European industry to expand their business and investment in the West Balkan region.

The RESEERVE project will link the EIT RawMaterials Innovation Community with the West Balkan region. Moreover, the project will open new markets for modern technologies, create opportunities for start‐ups and SMEs, contribute to new employment opportunities and generate added value in the minerals sector

RESEERVE innovation project is a part of the EIT RawMaterials RIS portfolio. The EIT Regional Innovation Scheme (EIT RIS) is designed for the EU Member States and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries in Europe who are modest and moderate innovators (according to the European Innovation Scoreboard), and where Innovation Communities have few or no partners. Strategically, the scheme is an additional offer to these countries to facilitate their engagement with the EIT Innovation Communities.