Prof. Ivan Mitev, executive director of BMGK, to FACTS: The goal is to make Europe a better place to live

How Bulgaria can play a key role in determining EU energy policies. What is the future of nuclear power in the EU, what does the EU Critical Raw Materials Act entail. Such topics were discussed at the conference "Energy security - a basis for the development of European industry". The role of Bulgaria”. It was organized by Tsvetelina Penkova, MEP from BSP and the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. Prof. Ivan Mitev, executive director of the Bulgarian Mining and Geological Chamber, was also present at the forum.

- Mr. Mitev, the EU sets two main priorities – clean technologies (including new nuclear power) and re-industrialisation. What step is the Critical Raw Materials Act and where does Bulgaria stand in the whole picture of the Old Continent?
- We will start with clean technologies. In reality, the policies that the EU set for a circular economy, subsequently for the “Green Deal”, is to strive for a cleaner, more ecological production. This is undoubtedly related in two directions. One is the reduction of emissions from various production processes, which undoubtedly leads to clean technologies. Clean technologies cover aspects from the production of electricity, to the primary extraction and processing of raw materials. Their relationship is multifaceted. We know that the clean technologies we associate in terms of the agenda of European society – wind generators, photovoltaics, batteries to store electricity are developing in different directions. But there are also clean technologies for automating processes, which is avoided by the wide media coverage. Thanks to these modern new technologies and automation of processes to reduce the indirect effect on production processes, the so-called energy efficiency of industrial systems, because we associate energy efficiency only with renovation of buildings, on the basis of which very good results can be obtained. All these technologies, if we look at them comprehensively, have two main goals – To make Europe a better place to live than the rest of the world and to have competitive electricity prices. This is the base without which we cannot do. We simply need competitive prices to be adequate to the rest of the world, to have production systems of any kind, to speak of re-industrialization at all. We see how the prices of energy carriers are forcing on a European scale the rethinking and opening of new capacities in the entire economic spectrum. This is undoubtedly an obstacle that sits before the European Commission and the entire EU administration. Critical raw materials are at the heart of building such clean technologies. All this is related to the use of metals and industrial minerals. They are the basis of the development of humanity in the last 100 years. Metals and industrial minerals help the development of technological processes both as equipment, and as production, and as know-how. We see how communication technology has developed in the last 20 years. Very intensive development of the sector. It is the same with the other industrial economic sectors.

- What new markets does this open for Bulgaria?
- I can safely say that Bulgaria has a very good starting position. Why? Because currently in Europe we use 30% of the world production of these critical raw materials. And in the EU we get only 3% of them. The biggest problem is that we - for some of the metals and minerals - are 100% dependent on imports from third countries, and even outside the continent of Europe.

- In our country, we extract only 1/10 of the non-ferrous and industrial metals, and the rest is imported. Why is that?
- 1/10 we extract from non-ferrous metals, but at the level of global extraction. At the EU level it is different. In the EU, we are in the Top 5 in mining of various metals – starting with zinc, copper, gold… These metals are needed not for enrichment, as they often try to recreate the information, but for the production of high-tech products that are related to the automation of every single production. 27% of our imports into the EU of these raw materials. The goal set by the European Commission through regulations on critical raw materials is for us to achieve a minimum of 10% own production by 2030, which respectively opens a good starting position for Bulgaria. I will say again that we are in the Top 5 in terms of mining in Europe as a mining industry in its various directions, and this opens up an opportunity for us to enter a market where there is hunger and we do not have to fight much competition. A large market is opening before us, which will lead to huge positives for the Bulgarian economy. Instead of wondering where investment will come from in our economy, we simply need to timely and systematically bring in regulations and legislation related to critical raw materials and implement it.

- And what are they, what does the regulation tell us…
- The regulation tells us something that we know very well in Bulgaria. First, we need to update our database of mineral types to be able to do industrial mining that is profitable. This goes through a minimum of 5-year research plans. It's just that governments should make a minimum of five-year exploration plans in the territory of the member states, in the territory of a country, because the information about the underground wealth of Europe dates back as knowledge from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. Such a database is used for the various resources. So our first step should be to research raw materials to protect our independence. After we do a search campaign, we also need to look at the regulatory norm. At the level of the European Union, mining projects last literally decades. And according to the information we have on the EU stockpiles, which are dealt with by the Critical Raw Materials Act, we literally have stockpiles for the next 10-15 years, but no more than 50 years. So we need to start exploration and mining as soon as possible. Therefore, the EC sets a deadline for all permit regimes that this must happen within 27 months. And this, of course, should go in parallel with the development of clean technologies. It turns out that in order to develop our clean technologies, which are known all over the world, at some point we become heavily dependent on supplies. We felt the supply crisis that was during the covid pandemic, it threatened the industrialization of Europe and also threatened our end products. Because it is important that these final products bring pure added value both to the state and to society, to the region where industry develops and people work.

- How the mining industry is developing in our country to date. What are you observing?
- The mining industry in Bulgaria is relatively stable because it has huge traditions. In the past years, its development has been moderate, very well planned, because you know that the prices of metals and materials always fluctuate. One year they're high, the next year they're low, but the mining industry has a lot of experience going back years.

- How does it all balance?
- The mining industry is a business that is not considered within 1, 2, 5 years, but within 10, 15, 20 years. In such a period, income and expenses are planned, fluctuations in different markets and prices are predicted. These are risks our industry takes. It is built exclusively and only by experts both at the management level and at the highest managerial level. And that makes us stable. In the late 1990s, there was a crisis in the management of our resources, but after that, thank God, the results of the mining industry show a steady growth. Both as a business, and as a salary, and as paid taxes and fees. This is because we are a light economy, a sector that works 100% on income and salary declaration. All company rates show this. You also see that where there is an underground resource operator, the municipalities are in the Top 3 for average salary. This is the real contribution of the sector both to the local economy and to society, as well as in the form of the donation campaigns in which the companies participate. This improves the living conditions in the municipalities, because each company makes a profit, and part of it invests and improves the living environment in its region. In our country last year there were over 500 worldwide visits to our companies. We are talking about people coming to see the know-how because we are an example of how we work. In Bulgaria, we exploit ore with a low content of the useful part. What does this mean... In Bulgaria we operate with 0.3% useful part per ton of mined ore, while the average for Europe is 2%. Globally, the average concentration of the useful part is about 6%. In reality, we prove ourselves thanks to the huge investments that our companies make in their enterprises and in the qualification of personnel. This saves our sector despite the low concentration of the useful part. We can never be compared to either Chile or Poland, because with them the ore is rich and the useful part is many times larger.

- What is happening at the state level?
- The mining sector reinvests 2% of its income in personnel training. The only sector ahead of us that invests more - within 3% - is the state administration. We support dual studies in the regions, we support vocational high schools in every aspect, we work a lot with higher schools, and all this is related to social policy. We are talking about contributions that cannot be valued now, but will be measured in years to come.