The Italian Database GeMMA: from monitoring production to cataloguing mining wastes, a starting point for recovering critical raw materials from abandoned mines?

The Geological Survey of Italy (ISPRA) is developing the GeMMA geodatabase by collecting all relevant information (e.g. activities, resources/reserves, production figures, and mining wastes) on Italian extractive sites from available sources. Attention is also given to extractive waste from closed or abandoned storage facilities – usually heaps or ponds – that can contain recoverable raw materials. The main purpose of the database is to define the situation of both active and historical extractive resources from mines and quarries, including geological, environmental, cultural and economic aspects. GeMMA aims to become a valid tool for developing national and regional policies oriented towards the sustainable mining/quarrying of primary mineral resources, in a circular economy perspective, considering also the exploitation potential of any secondary resources produced.