Introduction

In Flanders, near-surface mineral resources, such as clay, sand, loam and gravel, are all exploited by means of the open pit method. A special Flemish Parliament Act has therefore been drawn up formulating a sustainable mineral resources policy for these minerals. These mineral resources are widely used in the building and infrastructure sectors and thus hold important economic potential for the further development of Flanders.

Recently, great efforts have been made to develop the long-term sustainable planning of extractive industrial needs in Flanders. Long-term needs were established for each of the available mineral resources, whilst the possibility of using secondary raw materials was also taken into account. This resulted in the General Surface Mineral Resources Plan.

To determine the relation with land use planning, Specific Surface Mineral Resources Plans were worked out for the different resources. These plans define the needs for the different resources during the following years on a more regional scale.

Finally, this website also elaborates on the policy on the rehabilitation of exploited quarries as well as on some initiatives to inform the general public about the mineral resources in Flanders.

• Mineral Resources in Flanders
• Monitoring System 
• Rehabilitation of Abandoned Quarries
• Flanders and the European Raw Materials Policy 
• Public Outreach

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