Ten municipalities in the Harju County (Kuusalu, Jõelähtme, Raasiku, Rae, Lääne-Harju, Harku, Saku, Saue, Anija and Kose) were visited in mid-October by the head Heikki Bauert and senior geologists Janne Tamm and Sirle Liivamägi from our Department of Geological Resources together with the advisor Tiit Kaasik and senior officer Maria Karus form the Environmental Technology Department of the Ministry of Environment. Appointments with representatives of these municipalities took place.
The investigation has been ordered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. It aims at giving an overview of the resources of construction minerals and their use within the Harju County. The current situation is evaluated from the view of security supply, describing the possibilities for provisioning the county with construction minerals, in detail until 2030 and in prospect until 2050. The necessity of this investigation arises from increased consumption and from problems related with it, which require state-level regulation. Such municipalities were selected where larger and important construction mineral deposits are located, as well as where several permits to geological exploration or mining have been applied for.
During these meetings, an overview was given of extent and prospects of construction mineral deposits, their resources and mining, material quality and present security supply. It was in focus to learn the views of the visited municipalities and their interests on geological exploration and mining, as well as their prospects on taking into use new mining fields within their territories. All municipalities were greatly interested in a map depicting the extent of rocks and sedimentary materials, compiled on the basis of geological mapping, as well as in accompanying data on deposits in the environmental register, including deposits, mining fields, exploration fields, permit applications and prospective areas.
The dead-line for presenting the investigation to the ministry is in the end of 2018. Its results will be subsequently publicly announced.
