📢 MINEX – Mining and Exploration Forum 2025 ✨ began yesterday in Porto Salvo, Oeiras.
⚒️ With a strong focus on the seriousness and necessity of critically reflecting on the relevance of raw materials, metals, and minerals in our modern global society, the discussions centered on what is being planned for the European Union in an era of intense geopolitical debate — where energy dependence remains alarming.
🪨 🧾 One of the most frequently heard phrases during the sessions on October 21 was unmistakably:
“Brussels, we have a problem,”
highlighting the growing loss of sovereignty that the European industry is beginning to experience in the face of international markets offering cheaper and more readily available alternatives.
➡️ Moderated by Luís Martins, President of the Portugal Mineral Resources Cluster Association, Session 2 – “From Exploration to Extraction: The New Era of Sustainable Mining in Portugal” presented the national perspective.
➡️ With contributions from António Costa Silva, Patrícia Falé (DGEG – Direção Geral de Energia e Geologia), Daniel Oliveira (LNEG), Zélia Estêvão (EDM – Empresa de Desenvolvimento Mineiro, S.A.), and Marta Peres (#ACMPR), the discussion once again highlighted the ongoing work — not only in rehabilitating former mining areas, but also in government action through the Raw Materials Action Plan (following the European Commission’s guidance).
The session also addressed new technologies aimed at more balanced and responsible exploration and extraction, as well as the ongoing commitment to decarbonize Portugal’s natural stone industry (#RoadTo2050).
➡️ The debate panel later brought together key national players to present different perspectives on the main materials currently extracted or with potential in Portugal: copper, tungsten, feldspar, and lithium.
‼️ ♻️ Facing a clear European dilemma, society — and particularly policymakers — must make a choice:
Should we continue relying only on imports, with their heavier environmental and economic costs?
Or should we finally recognize our own potential — and shape a future that, like it or not, is coming fast with all its innovations?
