Cooperative Projects to Share Good Practices towards More Effective Sustainable Mining—SUGERE: A Case Study

Abstract

The supply of raw materials is a global challenge to be addressed; themes such as “sustainability”, “responsibility”, and “eco-compatibility” represent the cornerstones for proceeding towards a “wise” management of georesources. According to the United Nations’ SDGs, the economic development of countries must go hand in hand with the improvement of their environmental, health, and social sustainability. From this perspective, the exploitation of georesources needs to be handled with an interdisciplinary approach that tackles not only the technical, economic, and environmental issues, but also the social, legislative, and human health ones. In recent years, Europe has promoted several cooperative projects aimed at boosting sustainability in the extractive industry. To achieve and guarantee concrete and truly sustainable mining, it is necessary to build and strengthen educational and training skills. With these objectives in mind, the first results of the EU–Africa SUGERE Erasmus+ project are presented here. The objects of the project are the implementation of Bachelor, Master, and doctoral curricula in geology and mining engineering and the promotion of socioeconomic development thanks to the training of experts who are able to cooperate and work in an interdisciplinary manner for a sustainable approach to local mine exploitation.