National Mining Exploration Program 2026-2030

The Spanish National Mining Exploration Program 2026-2030 (PNEM 2026-2030, from its Spanish acronym “Programa Nacional de Exploración Minera”) is one of the high-priority actions from the I Action Plan for the Sustainable Management of Raw Materials 2026-2030, also attending article 19 from Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 of Critical Raw Materials (Critical Raw Materials Act or CRM Act), which mandates that each Member State must elaborate a critical raw material-specific Exploration Program. Moreover, the PNEM also allows to comply with CRMA’s article 27 “Recovery of critical raw materials from extractive waste”.

The measures set out in the PNEM 2026–2030 are classified into three categories:

(i) Exploration of primary raw materials including activities aimed at enhancing the role of the IGME’s Lithotheque (Spanish Geological Survey facility for core storage, sample study and data access in the field of geology and mineral resources), geological mapping, geochemical and geophysical studies, drilling campaigns and AI-based predictive models

(ii) Assessing the potential recovery of critical raw materials from extractive waste  with inventories, databases and advanced research; and cross-cutting actions on for sustainability, data management, education and knowledge transfer.

(iii) Cross-cutting measures aimed at improving sustainability and public awareness.

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