Social licence for exploration/mining in Europe is influenced by other georesource projects such as deep and shallow geothermal energy

HiTech AlkCarb This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innova<onprogrammeundergrantagreementNo.689909.

AlexandraSpeiser1,FrancesWall2,KateSmith2,KathrynMoore2,1ASpeiserEnvironmentalConsultants,2CamborneSchoolofMines,UniversityofExeter

HiTechAlkCarb–PolicyBrief Tuesday,1October2019

Social licence for exploration/mining in Europe is influenced by other georesource projects such as deep and shallow geothermal energy

Social licence for exploring/mining in Europe 1

Lessons arising from recent exploration research drilling plans in Germany

SummaryTheHorizons2020HiTechAlkCarbprojectplanneda300mdeepresearchdrillhole,togetherwithgeologicalandgeophysicalexplora<onstudies,insouthwestGermany,allcarriedouttointerna<onal minerals explora<on best prac<ce. The geology and geophysics were wellreceived by the local public, authori<es and poli<cians. However, the local poli<ciansexpressedconcernsaboutthedrillholeandrequestedalongterminsurancepolicyagainstanynega<veimpacts.Inprac<ce,thismeantthattheresearchteamcouldnotdrillthehole.Thecauseofthisconcernwasthenega<vepublicpercep<onofdrillingcausedbyproblemswith two geothermal projects in the region. Although theHiTechAlkCarb teamhad beenme<culoustoapplymining-relatedbest-prac<cetopublicandofficialinterac<ons,theyhadnot realised thedepthof feelingand lossof trust causedby thegeothermalprojects– ineffect, the social licence forminerals explora<on drilling had been lost, and could not beregainedduringthisproject.Thelessonhereforexpansionofminingorgeothermalenergyin Europe is clear – that in terms of social licence, the implica<ons of past and presentgeology-relatedprojectsmustbeconsideredtogether.Thepublicdoesnotdiscriminateandneithercanindustry,regionalauthori<esnorna<onalandinterna<onallegislators.

Keyfindings/LearningoutcomesTheearlystagesofplanningageoscienceprojectinvolvingdrillingshouldincludeappropriatepublicconsulta<onandasocio-economicassessmentofthestudyarea.

Nega<vepublicopinionfromearlierdrillingprojectsinthelocality can leave a legacy that adversely affectspercep<ons of any future drilling schemes regardless oftheirscaleorpurpose.

All drilling-related projects (geothermal, mining orresearch)shouldbeseentobeadop<nghighstandardsof

good prac<ce, both technical ly and in publiccommunica<on. This is essen<al, not only for legisla<vecompliancebut togainandmaintainpublic goodwill, i.e.thesociallicence.

Once the social licence has been lost, technicalexplana<ons, such as illustra<onsof thedifferent drillingtechniques and geological se\ngs that were relevant inthis case, appear o]en to have li^le influence on publicopinion.

HiTechAlkCarb–PolicyBrief Wednesday,16October2019

TheHiTechAlkCarbprojectFundedfrom2016to2020bytheEuropeanUnion’sHorizon 2020 research and innova<on programmeundergrantagreementNo.689909.

Star<ngin2016,theEUHorizon2020-fundedHiTechAlkCarbprojecthascarriedoutaprogrammeoffieldgeology and geophysics and aerial geophysicalsurveys at Kaiserstuhl, southwest Germany toinves<gate the characteris<cs and structure of thearea’s carbona<te and alkaline rocks. These rocksareofinterestbecauseoftheirpoten<alashostsforrare earths and other technology-related elementsthat are essen<al for use in the development ofenvironmentally-responsible, high-tech applica<onssuch as electric cars, wind turbines andsmartphones. The project itself was designed toassistinthedevelopmentofgeomodelsanddidnothaveacommercialobjec<ve.

Forfurtherinforma<onpleasecontact:

hitech.alkcarb@exeter.ac.uk

www.carbona<tes.eu

Aims:‣ Step-change in exploraBon geo-models foralkalineandcarbonaBteprovinces.‣ State-of-the-art interpretaBon of high resoluBongeophysicsanddownholemeasurementtools.‣ Twelve partners from industry, geological,geophysical and environmental companies, aswellasuniversiBesandgeologicalsurveys.‣ Seven key natural laboratories includingKaiserstuhl, Germany, the main focus ofgeophysicalresearch.

Social licence for exploring/mining in Europe 2

KaiserstuhlcasestudylocationTheKaiserstuhlislocatedinthesouthwestofGermany,inthe d i st r i c ts o f Emmendingen and Bre isgau-HochschwarzwaldintheprovinceofBaden-Wür^emberg.It is anex<nct volcano,whicherupted15.5million yearsagoduringtheMiocenegeologicalperiod. It isformedofcarbona<tes and alkaline rocks, unusual rocks that areimportant because they are the main source of cri<calelementssuchasrareearthsandniobium.

TheKaiserstuhlareawasconsideredtobeanidealnaturallaboratory for the HiTech AlkCarb project. As well asoffering an established body of literature, the areabenefits fromeasy access, has awell-preserved rangeofvolcanicrocks,anac<veaggregatequarryandothersmallquarriesfromearlierniobiumexplora<on.

Theecological importanceof thearea iswell recognised.Uniqueecosystemsthriveinthewarmclimateandinthefer<le loess soil covering part of Kaiserstuhl. NumerousDesignated Conserva<onAreas (DCA), ranging from60 –70hectareseach,andmanyothersmallerDCAshavebeenestablishedover<me.Partof the locality,whichwas themainfocuspointoftheHiTechAlkCarbprojectbelongstoaFaunaFloraHabitatarea(FFHno.7911-341).

Tourismandvi<culturearethemainsourcesofincomeintheregion.

Figure1b:Loca%onofKaiserstuhlhistoricdrillholes

Figure1a:Loca%onofsitesmen%onedinthetext.‘Kaiserstuhl’markstheloca%onofthecasestudysiteandisshowningreaterdetailinFigure1bbelow.

HiTechAlkCarb–PolicyBrief Wednesday,16October2019

(DrillholeKB3isalsoknownas‘Steinreisse’)

GERMANY

SWITZERLAND

FRANCE

BELGIUM

Basel

Freiburgin Breisgau

Strasburg

Zurich

Bern

AUSTRIA

Staufenin Breisgau

Legend Sites discussed in text

Kaiserstühl

Mulhouse

0 10 20 km

Stuttgart

Karlsruhe

BLACKFOREST

RIVER

RHINE

Social licence for exploring/mining in Europe 3

TheearlystagesofscienBficresearchand/orexploraBonshouldalwaysbeaccompaniedbypublicconsultaBonandasocio-economicassessmentoftheareaHiTechAlkCarbinteractionwiththecommunityinKaiserstuhl For the environmental and social impact assessments ofits planned research in Germany, the HiTech AlkCarbprojectfollowedbestprac<cegainedfromitsexplora<onexperience in Namibia. This involved more emphasis onpublicconsulta<onthanisrequiredbyGermanlegisla<on.

IncompliancewithGermanlegisla<on,priortocommencement of the studies, in April 2016,permit applica<ons to conduct the ground-based geological fieldwork and geophysicalsurveys were submi^ed to the Regierungs-präsidium Freiburg and the permit applica<ontodrillthescien<ficboreholewassubmi^edtothe Landratsamt Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald.Thesearethebodieswiththelegalauthoritytograntpermitspertainingtogeologicalac<vi<es.All permits were granted except the drillingpermit (see Drilling permission granted withcondi<ons).Theapplica<ontofly theairbornegeophysical survey was submi^ed to theavia<onauthorityon5thOctoberandgrantedon10thOctober2016.

Mee<ngs with the Mayor and heads of thecouncils of Vogtsburg Municipality were heldfrom April 2016, when the project wasintroduced, and con<nued during 2017 to provideprogress reports. There was strong local representa<onand knowledge in the HiTech AlkCarb team. The leadpartner for the geophysics and drilling was a localcompany, whose staff are long-<me residents of theregion,andthegeologicalresearchfellowwasalsolocal.

Figure2a:BenWaltertalkingattheNaturzentrumKaiserstuhlmuseumopenday.

Variousac<vi<eswerecarriedouttoprovide informa<onfor thegeneralpublicof theKaiserstuhlarea.A seriesofbrief summaries of project ac<vi<es was placed in thelocalpress,coveringresearchingthegeologyoftheareainthe field, and carrying out ground-based and airbornegeophysicsstudies.

Further public engagement was facilitated by an OpenDay, with ac<vi<es, posters and short films about theproject, organised at the Naturzentrum Kaiserstuhl inIhringen village in October 2017. The research team

introducedthegeneraluseofrareearthelements (REE), the importance ofcarbona<tes as hosts for REE depositsand explained to the public audiencehowtheprojectwouldfurtherscien<ficunderstandingofgeologicalprocessesatKaiserstuhl. Events offered during thedayincludedac<vi<esforchildren.

The Badische Zeitung published a veryposi<vear<cle:h^p://www.badische-zeitung.de/ihringen/der-kaiserstuhl-ist-eine-beispielregion-fuer-seltene-gesteine--143196319.htmlandtheteamwereinvitedtorepeattheeventlaterintheproject.

HiTechAlkCarb–PolicyBrief Wednesday,16October2019

Figure2b:VisitorsfromthelocalcommunitydiscussthegeologyofKaiserstuhlandHiTechAlkCarbwiththeprojectteam.

Social licence for exploring/mining in Europe 4

Drilling-relatedprojects(forgeothermal,miningorresearch)shouldbeseentoadopthighstandardsofgoodpracBceinordertogainandmaintainpublicgoodwill.

GeothermalboreholesinStaufenimBreisgauIn September 2007, seven 140m deep geothermal boreholes were drilled at the town of Staufen im Breisgau(25km from Kaiserstuhl) to establish borehole heatexchangers for thetownhall. Inoneof theboreholes,atechnical problem permi^ed water to enter layers ofanhydrite.Theanhydritereactedtoformgypsumandthisreac<on can lead to a c.60% increase in volume of therock. Weeks a]er drilling was completed, the groundswelled,causingthegroundsurfaceofthetowncentreinStaufen to li]at ratesup to10mm/month,andup to26cm in someplaces. Sevenyears later inMarch2014, theinfla<onappearedtohavestopped.h^p://www.staufens<]ung.de/risse-chronik.html

Unfortunately, 250 buildings in the historic town centrehave been affected. The company responsible for thedrilling ceased trading and responsibility for the costs ofrepairing the damage has fallen to themunicipality. Thedamagedbuildingsarenowthemselvesatourista^rac<onasthehistorictowntriestoraisethemoneyforrepair.

GeothermalenergyprojectBaselAtBasel,60kmsouthofKaiserstuhl,drillingtoadepthof4.8kmwasconductedforageothermalpowerproject in2006/2007. Several small earthquakes of between

magnitude 3 and 3.4 were felt in the surrounding area.Followingthisinducedseismicitywithatotalofmorethan200 earthquakes of magnitude greater than 0.9, a riskassessment resulted in the project being halted in 2009.Geopower Basel AG, the company responsible for thedrilling, paid compensa<on to affected owners, and alsoreported that they had previously advised the cantonalauthori<esthatdrillingcouldcausesomeminortremors.

h^p://www.seismo.ethz.ch/en/earthquakes/monitoring/geothermal-energy-basel/Project-Descrip<on/

Figure3:DamagetobuildingsinthehistorictowncentreofStaufenimBreisgau.

HiTechAlkCarb–PolicyBrief Wednesday,16October2019

Howwasthesociallicencelostatthedrilling schemesinStaufenimBreisgauandBasel?

Social licence for exploring/mining in Europe 5

NegaBvepublicopinionfromdrillingprojectscanleavealegacythatadverselyaffectspercepBonsofanyfuturedrillingschemes,regardlessoftheirscaleandpurposeTheMayorofVogtsburgandtheheadsofthelocalcouncilswere interested in HiTech AlkCarb’s scien<fic research andsuppor<veofallac<vi<esexceptforthedrilling.

Figure4a:Drilling%meline

The Landratsamt Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald grantedpermissionforaresearchdrillholeinAugust2017onthecondi<on that theMunicipality of Vogtsburg also agreedto the drilling. The Municipality s<pulated severalcondi<ons of its own. One of these condi<ons was thattheapplicantwastobeliableinthelongtermformakinggood any damage caused by the drilling and wouldtherefore be required to take out an insurance policy tocover any claims arising. Of par<cular concern wasposs ib le damage or nega<ve effects on the‘Neunbrunnenquelle’ (a spring in the valley south of theBadberg) and the presence of a sewage pressure line inthearea,and thesewere tobeexpressly coveredby theinsurance. The Mayor requested that HiTech AlkCarbacquired a 10-year insurance policy to cover any and allpossibleproject-relatedimpacts.

Eventhoughaposi<veresponsetoourprojecthadbeenreceived from the local community, and despite allpermits for thegroundandaerial surveysbeing inplace,the poor experiences and problems associated with thedrilling episodes at Staufen and Basel caused localpoli<cians to insist that this addi<onal insurance wasnecessarytocovertheperceivedrisksposedbyeventhesmall-scale research drill hole that we were proposing.However,insuranceforthisriskisnotreadilyavailable.

As a result, in October 2017, the project team took thedecision not to drill at Kaiserstuhl. Fortunately, thecombina<onof the discovery during fieldwork of an old,

but s<ll open, drill hole at the site (see Figure 1b),togetherwithnewresults fromaprojectpartner’sac<veexplora<on work in Malawi, provided sufficient data fortheprojecttomeetitsrepor<ngobjec<ves.

Figure5:Geophysicalsurveyfieldworkanddownholegeophysicalinves%ga%onsattheoldborehole. Photos:Terratecgeophysicalservices

HiTechAlkCarb–PolicyBrief Wednesday,16October2019

HiTechAlkCarbdrillingpermissiongranted–butwithconditions

Figure4:Drilling%meline

Social licence for exploring/mining in Europe 6

OurexperienceduringthisprojectsuggeststhattechnicalexplanaBonsregardingdifferentdrillingtechniquesandgeologicalseQngsappearoRentohaveliSleinfluenceonpublicopinion

Figure6:Comparisonofdrillingapplica%ons.HydraulicFracking

Aprocess that involvesdrillingdeepdown into theshalelayers that containgas.Awater-sand-chemicalmixture isinjected into the rockunderhighpressure to release thegas,allowingittorisetotheheadofthewell.

BaselGeothermalDrillingDeep drilling for direct heat and electricity genera<on.Pressurised water is circulated through the rock severalkilometresundergroundtoabsorbtheheatandextractedbackuptheouterwallsofthedrillholeorviaanotherdrillhole. The drill hole walls should be sealed to preventwaterescapingtootherlayers.

(drillingequipmentnottoscale).StaufenimBreisgauGeothermalDrillingGeothermal shallow boreholes for borehole heatexchangers (BHE) equipped with ground source heatpumps. Pressurised water is circulated through one ormoreshallowdrillholestoabsorbtheheatfromtherock.The drill hole walls should be sealed to prevent waterescapingtootherlayers,suchasinto AnhydritelensesinthecaseofStaufenimBreisgau.

KaiserstuhlProposedScienBficDrillhole Scien<ficexplora<ondrillholescanbeofvariabledepth,usuallyuptoseveralhundredmetres.Rockchipsorsolidcore are extracted for tests and the void is used fordownhole studies using instruments lowered into thecavity.Theholeisthenusuallyclosed.Nowatercircula<onisrequired.

HiTechAlkCarb–PolicyBrief Wednesday,16October2019

km

HydraulicFracking

BaselGeothermal

Drilling

Staufen im BreisgauGeothermal

Drilling

KaiserstuhlProposed Scientific

Drillhole

PhonoliteDiatreme Breccia

Quaternary coverMiddle & Upper KeuperAalenianUpper Muschelcalc

Anhydrite ‘lens’

1

2

3

4

5

6

Social licence for exploring/mining in Europe 7

Acknowledgements:AnatoleBeams,EmmaDowman,MarkoCacanoski,BenjaminBohn(MayorofVogtsburg)andlocalcouncilmembers,PeterSiegfried,KlausBrauch,ClaudiaPohlandtheHiTechAlkCarbteam.TheHiTechAlkCarbprojecthasreceivedfundingfromtheEuropeanUnion'sHorizon2020researchandinnova<onprogramme(grantagreementno.689909).Furtherinforma<on:www.carbona<tes.eu

HiTechAlkCarb–PolicyBrief Wednesday,16October2019

RecommendaBons fortheEuropeanCommission

Public percep<on of experiences and issuesassociatedwith geothermal projects also extendsto mineral explora<on projects. Therefore, allgeoresources projects -mining, quarrying, deepand shallow geothermal - need to adopt thehigheststandardsofgoodprac<cetoacquireandretainpublicsupport.ThisisvitalastheEuropeanCommissionworkto improvethesocial licencetooperateformininginEurope.

The early stages of all scien<fic research and/orexplora<on projects should include appropriatepublic consulta<on, outreach and a socio-economic assessment of the area. Our project isanexampleofgoodprac<ceinthisrespect,exceptthat we did not adequately consider the likelyeffectsofthepreviousgeothermalprojectsatourprojectproposalstage.Wedidhowever,recognisethatnotbeingabletodrillwasarisk,andhadsetupacon<ngencyplanaccordingly.

Assets from earlier field work, such as researchinfrastructure of drill holes as well as the drillcores, shouldbe retained for possible futureuse.This project benefited from the fortuitousdiscovery of an old, uninten<onally open, drillhole.

It may be preferable that research projectsinvolving ac<vi<es perceived as being high risk,such as drilling, should be undertaken by agovernment ins<tu<on, such as a university orna<onal geological survey. These ins<tu<ons areautoma<cally insured in some countries, such as

Germany.Analterna<vesolu<onisforprojectstocollaborate with ac<ve explora<on projects thatalready have drilling permits and appropriateinsurance inplace.Thiswasourcon<ngencyplanbutwasoutsideofEurope.

Oncethesociallicencehasbeenlost, it isdifficultto regain. Examples of posi<ve outcomes fromgeoresources projects are required in southwestGermany to allay public scep<cism and restoreconfidence.