Legal classification of Mineral Raw Materials (MRM)

The Mineral Raw Materials (MRM) in Greece are legally classified in two broad categories:

Metallic Minerals or Ores(a) Metals in their native state (copper, gold, etc.); (b) Compounds of all metals; (c) Rare earth metals; (d) Minerals of radioactive elements; (e) Native sulphur, graphite, phosphorite, fluorite, asbestos, talc, alunite, mica, feldspar, potassium alum, sodium chloride, compounds of boron, bromine and iodine, sepiolite, dolomite containing more than 21% of magnesium oxide; (f) Precious stones; (g) All solid fossil fuels, including peat; (h) Natural deposits of organic fertilisers; (i) Hydrocarbons of all kinds in solid or gaseous state, as well as their oxidation products (ozokerite, asphalt, pitch tar, pitch tar limestones and slates etc.); (j) Resinous mineral materials; (k) Helium gas and native gases, and (l) ‘Geothermal potential’

and

Quarry MineralsMarble, limestone of all kinds, dolomites containing less than 21% of magnesium oxide, slate, marls, clays, kaolin, silts, montmorillonite, bentonite, chalk, gypsum, alabaster, flysch, tuffs, amphibolite, prasinites, quartzites, ophites, olivines, peridotites, syenite, diorites, granites, trachytes, basaltes, rhyolites, dakitis, andesite, diabase, obsidians, perlites, pumice, puzzolan, sandstone, sands and every rock similar to the above.

. This legal classification was provisioned in the Mining Code (MC), based on the significance of the MRM to the national economy and does not always correspond to the scientific or technical definition of the referred raw materials. It serves the segregation of mineral resources’ ownership rights from land ownership rights. Hence, land ownership rights do not extend to the Metallic Minerals or Ores due to the significance of the latter to the national economy. The right to explore and exploit Metallic Minerals or Ores may be granted to any private entity, according to the provisions of the MC. The minerals referred to in article 143 of the MC (e.g., hydrocarbons, solid energy minerals, geothermal energy, etc.) are exempted from this rule. For these minerals, the right to explore and exploit rests with the State.  On the contrary, the right to explore and exploit Quarry Minerals (i.e., the Quarry Minerals’ ownership right) coincides with the land ownership right. The landowner (or whoever he legally concedes this right) has the exclusive right to exploit these resources according to the provisions of the relative legislation.

Legal classification of mineral raw materials (MRM)