The innovation projects importance for social acceptance of mining activities and the raw material industry
Day 1:
The aim of the lectures in this section is to introduce learners to the problem of social acceptance in relation to mining activities, i.e., extraction and management of raw materials, and to try to find innovative proposals to strengthen the social acceptance of citizens when it comes to activities of this kind.
The Course Outline is presented below:
Introduction to the general picture of the perception that prevails worldwide about the intention of citizens to accept the initiation of activities of extraction and exploitation of primary materials, close to the place where they live.
In the chapter about the mining activities and raw material industry, a definition of the topic mining activities is given, and which are the raw materials and the relative industry are referred. Furthermore, the localization of these activities is described.
As the local society concerns, the demographic situation is described, and the characteristics of the local society are examined.
In the chapter about the innovation projects the following topics are being discussed:
Mining activities in several environments
Innovative methods for the utilization of raw materials for the circular economy
Use of innovative materials for mining activities solutions
Innovative methods for sustainable mining
Innovative methods for recycling in mining
Automations
In the chapter about the factors which affect the social acceptance the roll of economy (direct and indirect), the social (status), the political and the cultural factors are discussed.
In the continuity, in the chapter about how innovation projects can influence social acceptance the topics which are examined with the factors are:
More jobs (or more qualified staff)
Tourist attraction (abandoned quarry as a motocross track)
Restoration (restoration, environmental terms)
Sophisticated solutions for more green approach and operation
Utilization of wastes (rubble, aggregates etc.)
Then bibliographic research is carried out to find relevant questionnaires from the past years to the present day and from the processing of the answers that have been given, useful and safe conclusions and results emerge.
The evaluation questionnaire is an indicator of the success of the course.
Day 2:
The training course aimed to introduce participants to the problem of social acceptance of raw materials supply through mining activities, and to discuss about possible strategies to strengthen the social acceptance of citizens when it comes to activities of this kind.
After a review of concepts, several cases of study form different social environments will be presented and discussed.
This educational activity was designed as a condensed workshop class (two days in March 2023) plus a week’s time for participants to complete an online questionnaire.
Learning outcomes:
Day 1:
Upon successful completion of the course, learners:
Will be fully informed about the benefits and consequences of mining activities and the raw materials industry globally and in their region.
Will be informed about the social acceptance of citizens for similar activities from the past to the present.
Will be able to express freely and substantiated their concern and take a position in favour of the realization of such actions and activities.
Will be able to see the proposed innovations as a challenge to try a new, beneficial, and profitable situation for them.
Will be sufficiently convinced and led into a favourable attitude towards the acceptance of such activities, that they will not try to prevent them.
Day 2:
Participants will understand the need of providing raw materials from both primary and secondary sources.
Participants will discuss the factors affecting the social acceptance of mining activities and the effectiveness of innovation projects to get a higher acceptance level.
Participants will understand the cases of study and will be able to discuss different point of views regarding the topic.
Participants will be able to answer questions on fundamental concepts of the topic (question test – one week).
