Public participation as an element of a mineral deposit safeguarding system – international experiences

Every social group exhibits a need to make decisions that are binding for all its members and the participation of various interest groups in decision-making today is an integral part of modern political and legal thought as well as administrative processes. Recently, increased community engagement and greater awareness of the society with regard to the possibility of influencing the development on a microregion (commune) scale have also been observed. This often translates into problems in obtaining a social license for a given project, which is particularly visible in mining activities. however, obtaining such a license requires the involvement and awareness of many stakeholder groups on which a project will have a direct impact. It should be ensured that this engagement takes place at a very early 28 Kot-Niewiadomska et al. 2022 / Gospodarka Surowcami Mineralnymi – Mineral Resources Management 38(4), 5–28 stage of a given project. In the case of mining activity, which is possible only after obtaining appropriate licenses (exploration or exploitation), this involvement takes the form of public consultation. This is due to the legal conditions presented in the following article for 3 EU countries (Poland, Austria, Sweden) and Serbia. The analysis showed that participation is mainly at the level of consultation in all countries and is an important element of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure of the mining project, which is an important stage in obtaining a mining (less frequently exploration) license. Public consultations at the stage of spatial planning are also present and have a diverse scope. however, special attention should be paid to these as they are crucial for proper mineral deposit safeguarding. Stakeholders’ awareness of planning decisions taken by local authorities can be crucial for the fast path to obtaining both formal and informal concessions, which takes the form of social license