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Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Multiplication of the Bulgarian Sustainable Mining Standard

Objectives of the commitment

Specific objectives of the commitment are:
• To raise the quantity of disseminated good practices in EU;
• To encourage self-assessment skills of companies and their capacity to perform gap analysis and map areas for improvement;
• To implement advanced risk monitoring management tool;
• To develop public data reporting and related expertise and skills;
• To introduce benchmarking mechanism among countries.
The Standard main objectives is to contribute to the sustainable development and prosperity of the mining industry on Balkans. Additionally the Standard aims at:
• Improving the energy and resource efficiency.
• Minimising environmental impacts.
• Providing maximum socio-economic benefits.
• Establishing long-term, dynamic and effective relationships with stakeholders.
• Strengthening the sector’s reputation.

Description of the activities

The activities planned in the implementation of the commitment include:
1/ Translation and adaptation the Bulgarian Sustainable Mining Standard into Romanian, Macedonian and Serbian language. The Standard will be granted for use in the relevant branch associations in the countries.
2/ the pilot testing in Romania, Macedonia and Serbia will have the following steps:
- Raising awareness campaign on the importance and advantages of self-regulation practices in the mining industry (at least 1 informational event per country);
- Training in the Sustainable Mining Standard application at national level – 2 days training sessions conducted by Bulgarian experts to relevant professionals in the countries;
- Selection of pilot companies at national level to perform the self-assessment in their units. It includes technical support as well;
- Selection of verificators and their specific training at national level;
- External verification of the companies’ self-assessment results.
3/ Draft a regional report delivering the results in the countries, benchmarking chapter and general advocating that mining industry is a leading industry on Balkans. It will include:
- Draft of chapter content and methodology;
- Filling the national information from the expert teams from each of the three countries;
- Design, print and dissemination of the report to relevant stakeholders (public authorities, investors, other companies);
4/ Conduct of a closing public event at national level.
Expected results:
• One translated and adapted standard into 5 European languages and 4 territories;
• Pilot regional report in the field of responsible mining industry published and disseminated among relevant stakeholders in Europe;
• Pilot self-assessment in the field of sustainability of six mining companies (three per country)
• 40 national experts trained to use the self-assessment tool;
• 1 big public event per country to report the commitment fulfillment results.
The final event in Bulgaria will coincide with the conduct of the Vth European Mining Business Forum which will be organized during the Bulgarian Presidency of the European Commission in 2018.

Description of the expected impacts

The expected impacts of the commitment are based on the following principles:
• Integration of the best international practices;
• Reflects the current status of the industry development in the region;
• Simplicity and efficiency;
• Transparency and comparability;
• Applicability for all subsectors;
• Evaluation of companies’ performance;
• Focus on management practices and results;
• Auditability;
• Legal compliance;
• Continuous improvement;
• Sustainability aspects;
• The Standard is based on a set of commitments within every sustainability aspect.

Having that in mind its multiplication will:
- Raise the level of transparency in the mining industry on Balkans and build trust in the most relevant sectors’ stakeholders;
- Provide to companies in the mining industry a proven professional self-assessment instrument that can help their work in finding and filling gaps in their management thus reducing the business risks in their everyday work;
- Demonstrate good practices on regional level and put Balkans as a genuine leader the mining industry in SE Europe.

Coordinating organisation & role

Name of the coordinating organisation: Bulgarian Chamber of Mining and GeologyCountry: BulgariaEntity profile: NGOsRole within the commitment:

BCMG is the leading organization in the implementation of the proposed commitment. It will be responsible for the transfer, translation and adaptation of the existing Bulgarian Sustainable Mining Standard into Macedonian and Serbian language. It will also partner to the national industry associations, it will conduct introduction training for companies and be the leader in the methodology draft of the joint regional report.

Other partners

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V.

Name of the organisation: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V. Country: Germany Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: Fraunhofer will lead the CFRP and GFRP recycling research.
Fraunhofer will perform corrosion tests on the developed materials.
Fraunhofer will work with CIDAUT on the implementation, validation and refinement of LCCA tools for the project. Fraunhofer is the Quality Manager of the Consortium and will oversee deliverables and general reporting are produced with the best possible quality following agreed review standards.

Fundacion Cidaut

Name of the organisation: Fundacion Cidaut Country: Spain Entity profile:
Role within the commitment: CIDAUT will lead the research activities on materials recycling and compounding, implementing lab scale demonstrators of each process at its premises and, later, supporting end-users upscale the processes.
CIDAUT will perform mechanical tests, microstructural analyses, injection moulding capability studies on the developed materails, and will work with Fraunhofer on the implementation, validation and refinement of LCCA tools for the project.

RWTH Aachen University (Institute of plastic processing (IKV)

Name of the organisation: RWTH Aachen University (Institute of plastic processing (IKV) Country: Germany Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: RWTH will implement the novel 3D Generative Preforming process (3D Fibre Spraying) that enables to create high-value long fibre-reinforced 3D preforms for thermoplastic and thermoset composites at low process costs (different kinds of yarn as a raw material, low tooling costs due to low cavity pressures). This cost effective technology allows to align the sprayed fibres in order to produce high-performance, engineered anisotropic products.

Universita' di Cagliari

Name of the organisation: Universita' di Cagliari Country: Italy Entity profile:
Role within the commitment: University of Cagliari is one of the leading European organization in the resin design and coupling with thermoplastic and thermose materials. University of Cagliari will support in the definition of the composite materials, both from CFRP/GFRP, ABS and Rare Earth composite material.

Relight

Name of the organisation: Relight Country: Italy Entity profile: Private sector - SME
Role within the commitment: RELIGHT will work with ITRB to provide the research partners with residues for the recycled ABS supply and the REE recovery processes, including their HydroWEEE process as part of the processes to be studied and analyzed.

Piaggio Aerospace

Name of the organisation: Piaggio Aerospace Country: Italy Entity profile: Private sector - large company
Role within the commitment: Piaggio Aerospace is one of the project End Users (Aeronautics Industry): as such it will provide requirements and further applications that could be developed with the Consortium Materials. Piaggio will assist in the compounds selection, provide Fraunhofer with specific corrosion requirements on business jet size aircraft, and will assess that the developed materials performance fits the selected applications desired improvements.

Blackshape Aircrafts

Name of the organisation: Blackshape Aircrafts Country: Italy Entity profile: Private sector - SME
Role within the commitment: Blackshape Aircrafts is one of the project End Users (Aeronautics Industry): as such it will provide requirements and further applications that could be developed with the Consortium Materials. Blackshape will support to fulfill the requirements of the aeronautics industry on ultra light jet, light jet and trainer for Syllabus, and will assess that the developed alloys performance fits the selected applications desired improvements.

KU Leuven

Name of the organisation: KU Leuven Country: Belgium Entity profile: Academia
Role within the commitment: KUL will collaborate on the balance problem studies and will lead the rare earth recovery research with the solvometallurgical and ionometallurgical processes.
KUL will also contribute to the final compounding selection.
KUL is the Dissemination Manager of the project, promoting that all partners are active on the project Dissemination.

FIDAMC

Name of the organisation: FIDAMC Country: Spain Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: FIDAMC is going to lead the Work Package on Compression Moulding with CFRP-enhanced materials. As part of the AIRBUS Group, FIDAMC will also be able to provide the input material.
FIDAMC successfully developed a 3D Printer of own design to serve the Aerospace Industry and will be supporting Smart Lab 3D Industries in its 3D printer design.

COMPOSITE INNOVATION CENTER

Name of the organisation: COMPOSITE INNOVATION CENTER Country: Canada Entity profile: Governmental/public body
Role within the commitment: Composite Innovation Center is one of the world leading organization in the field of Composite materials, both from carbon fiber and vegetal-based fibers.
Composite Innovation center has successfully implemented, at lab-scale, recycling processes for CFRP and GFRP.

Existing EU Contribution: No

Period to implement the commitment: from 01-04-2016 to 30-09-2018