LEGAL, MANAGEMENT, ECONOMICAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES RELATED TO METALS, MATERIALS AND MINERALS PROCESSING

What are the most serious environmental issues in this century? There are, of course, several answers which depend on personality. "Global Warming, Climate Change" is expected as a most average answer. It is no doubt to be serious. Another answer is also to supply foods and water. These problems are also essential to keep lives. And I would like to add one more to them, which is a stable sustainable supply of mineral resources because most human beings live in the circumstances which are mainly consist of artificial products including many metallic products. So, we are living in natural environment with artificial circumstances. We can't return to old historical lives. How we can success to do harmonious coexistence between keeping environment and economic growth, which is a trade off relation very often. One of answers is 3R(Reduce, Reuse and Recycling) of artificial waste which can't retuned to original state by themselves. 3R can reduce the consumption the primary resources, save energy and control of diffusion of harmful elements to nature, if they have done on the right way. A strategy of mineral resources and supporting technologies for it in Japan is shown in the presentation to achieve a sustainable growth. Most natural mineral resources are imported in Japan, since there are no natural mineral resources except limestone. Not only commodity metals like Iron and copper but minor rare metals are very important in Japan to keep providing high technological electronics applicants like PC and cellular phones. Some of mineral resources can be imported from very limited countries, for example, rare earth elements (REE) are imported only from China. It also causes a difficulty of stable supply of metal resources. So, to overcome uncertainness of supply of minerals and metals, Japanese government has taken a following strategy have taken as follow: (1) Exploration and exploitation of metal resources (2) Further promotion of recycling of metals (3) Development of substitutes for minor rare metals (4) Stockpile of minor rare metals for emergency

The surface mines Bardh and Mirash have a long history of the development and exploitation dated since 1922. Mines in many cases were activated and exploit in very difficult conditions beginning from the underground gallery in order to achieve objectives of researches in production. One of the main factors has been road infrastructure , the presence of carbon dioxide in underground coal mines , the security in geo technical aspect, underground waters, air conditioning of mines etc. Therefore with the advance of technology nowadays there are created conditions for exploitation of the coal in surface mines in the open sky, by creating conditions for constructing the road infrastructure as the construction of bridge on the river Sitnica for transporting of equipments and employees to the mines and via versa, that represent a high geo technical security with a great economical and practical importance for exploitation of coal as with road transport as well through transport conveyer.

One of the greatest challenges of today´s metallurgical complexes is the ability to adapt to regional and global dynamic changing conditions that are most of the times outside their control. Although the company does not have control over prices and quality of raw materials or prices of final products it has to be able to be flexible enough to achieve optimum results at any possible situation. The key is the effective integration, alignment and management of systems and people. To achieve this, Peñoles put into practice three principles at the operations floor: • Continuous Improvement• Operational Discipline• Team WorkOver these three principles, as described in this paper, we have been able to assemble several kinds of tools, systems and initiatives in a coherent operational model directed towards increasing productivity on a daily basis. We have put our workers in the center of our efforts and found that engaging people is the foundation for transforming the culture of the company.

Dealing with the impacts of Globalisation, companies, including mineral and metals processing corporations, often reflexively resort to mass layoffs and collective dismissals too quickly as a response to competition issues. The job cuts have a negative impact on both employers and employees and unfortunately are not always the solution to the problem as in many cases they produce an opposite result. There are many venues that could help limit the job cuts or limit the number of the dismissed employees. One of these potential means is a real process of information and consultation of employees that takes place before the decision to proceed with job cuts is finalised. This article proposes to study the legal frame of the information and consultation process before the employment dismissals take place, in Canada and USA, with regards to unionised employees. From this study, it appears that the Canadian and USA legal framework of labour law does not offer a sufficient protection to the information and consultation process and does not follow the international guidelines. The European Union and many member countries have adopted directives and legislation imposing employers to inform and consult the employees before a decision to proceed with dismissals is finalised.

The types of intellectual property (IP) available: A discussion of the different types of IP protection available to companies with "clean" technologyFast-tracking "clean" technology patents: How the world's patent offices are advancing innovation by expediting examination of "clean" technology patentsUncovering the "green" Holy Grail: Effective use of due diligence to uncover hidden gems of IP value - what to look for and what to do once you've found itIncreasing the value of your company through strategic use of IP: How to increase your bottom line and how to prevent others from diluting your market share

The European Union is one of the leading actors in the world economy, politics including metal industry. It represents the most successful world’s supranational model of governance that has been able to permanently increase its overall performance and introduce to the world among highest standards on environment protection through a contemporary legal framework. In fact, today’s EU Environmental Law in general and especially on waste management provides an adequate protection for the environment, but at the same time provides also an adequate legal framework for a sustainable development of metal processing industry. The latter in recent years has been challenged by globalization, world economic crises as well as by legal pressure to introduce tremendous technological improvement in order to comply with new environmental protection standards. Nowadays, world has become a big waste container produced inter alia by the metal processing industry. Nevertheless, the later is not only the cause, but also the solution for this issue, because the metal waste management cannot be done without the help and the participation of metal processing industry. The metal waste management through recycling, is one of the best ways to resolve the issue of metal waste large deposits allover the world, but can be also helpful for metal processing industry in countries without the need to further exploit mine reserves and operate at lower producing costs. From this perspective, the EU Law on waste management represents a very important binding legislation not only in the EU, but also in other associated territories as well as other EU candidate or aspirant countries that have approximated their domestic legislation with the EU Law as part of their EU integration reforms process. Thus, the main purpose of this paper would be to analyze some of the main issues of the EU Law on waste management related with metal processing industry with special focus on the EU framework waste legislation, the EU legislation on waste management operations and the EU legislation on specific waste streams that include among others: 1. Directive 2006/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on waste (this is the codified version of Directive 75/442/EEC as amended); 2. Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste, as amended; 3. Decision 2000/532/EC establishing a list of wastes, as amended; 4. Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on shipments of waste and several other acts of secondary legislation that directly or indirectly are related with metal processing industry such as on: Waste from the titanium dioxide industry, derogation for plastic crates and plastic pallets in relation to the heavy metal concentration levels and end-of life vehicles etc.

This study uses firm level data to investigate the obstacles that firms face in financing their investments. Data used in this study are obtained from Riinvest Institute and contains over 1500 firms. The survey covers three periods, year 2004, 2006 and 2008. The main findings are that general characteristics of the firm have an impact on firms' accessibility to external funds. For example, size, age and industry where firms operate play an important role in accessing external funds. Moreover, the evidence may suggest that banks secure largely their loans by requiring pledges of collateral as indicated by capital of the firm into the model. Among the important findings which to data have been neglected by the literature is that firms who have greater share of their turnover through banks have easier access to bank funds. Furthermore, the importance of business association is also highlighted in this work. Obstacles in accessing external funds are investigated based on two approaches, the first, financial constrains of the firm and the second, the credit rationing theory.

Practising as a patent and trade mark attorney in Cambridge for more than 10 years, I have advised many start-up companies and university spin-outs. A number of common pitfalls arise which can prevent inventors and companies from maximising the value of their intellectual property (IP). These are five of the most common problems that I see arising in practice; Ownership of IP and transferring ownership to a company to exploit an invention; The tension between filing patent applications and publishing your invention; Ensuring that a patent application describes the invention in enough detail to enable you to claim robust patent protection, including recent European Patent Office case law on the requirements for describing how parameters have been measured; Claiming inventions based on ranges of parameters, such as alloy compositions; And making the best use of your IP when you have secured it.

Since the early seventies of last century the classical approach of statistical reviews in mining has been replaced with a modern approach which relies on the meaning of "the regionalised variables”. In this way, the construct of the variogram for orebody in active mines, or mineral deposit detected with preliminary geological research, provides the mining engineer with the necessary details and datas on internal characteristics of ore, such as "anisotropy" or "isotropy" of the feature being reviewed, in different directions. On the other hand, even if the operational engineer posseses the available data on the quality of ore at certain points, as a result of samples taken, he often needs to know the quality in blocks that have not been sampled, in order to place them in the operational plan of production, or to consider them as sterile. Using the "best linear evaluation" - Krige method, or the application of computers in mining planning system, is becoming a strong tool in the hands of the engineer. The case study of Trepca mine in Stantërg, proves the crucial role that geostatistical methods have in modern production in mines and mineral processing plants.

Socialism as an antipode of capitalism was building a technological progress spearheaded by the Soviet Union (SU). While suppressing private free initiative which in many parts of the world resulted in revolutionary innovations, the SU was highly innovative in military technology that made it a superpower. However, in technology for economic purposes, it could be compared with many third world countries, just like the position of Russia today. This polarization arises from how society allocates and utilizes the resources such as labor, talent, time and money. On the contrary, West Germany and Japan having their military expenses at very low level relative to their economies, advanced in innovations for commercial goods, the first to become the economic miracle of the West (Wirthschaftswunder) and the latter as the miracle of the East. The United States maintained a kind of balance in committing resources between economic and military innovation, though many of its inventions with massive economic impact originated in the military. Former Yugoslavia having a differentiated socialist model, built some comparative technological advantages in the economy over Eastern Block, but generally lagging behind much of the Western Europe. The stagnation experienced after the fall of socialism brought heavier dependence on imported technology and less innovations. This paper investigates from theoretical as well as applied perspective the technological change in distinctive economic systems with a specific reference to innovation for commercial and military use, and critically assesses the policies of a trade off between these two sectors in modern times.

Due to its specific nature of operations, KGHM has special responsibilities in respect of its projects. This is related, to its long-term effects on the environment, its impact on the local communities and relationships with its stakeholders. In KGHM’s CSR activities we thrive to strike a balance in our effects on the natural environment, to support the development of the region and the local communities. KGHM also supports the battle against social exclusion. At KGHM we are currently at the stage of developing the Company’s corporate social responsibility strategy (CSR). The document is being developed in cooperation with the whole management, on the basis of our long-term experience, industry analyses and international CSR guidelines for the excavation sector. We are also using new social responsibility and sustainability guidelines, which were set out in the ISO 26000 standard adopted last year. We are certain that together with the adopted business strategy, the CSR strategy will show us the right way to develop KGHM for many years to come. At KGHM we know that what we are doing is good, which does not mean that it cannot be any better, more effective and closer to the needs of our stakeholders. Therefore, good relations with the shareholders, local governments, employees, customers and counterparties are a big and important issue for us. We invest in CSR because that is always profitable. Not only for the firm, but also for the inhabitants of the region, the natural environment and the whole neighbourhood.

Sustainability has become an important issue especially in materials science and engineering. Generally the tendency today is that any project should pass through rigorous lenses of sustainability criteria. Any project should always be analyzed in terms of achieving such developments in long term in order to fulfill the needs of the current generations without hindering the progress of future generations. Despite the attention this issue has recently got in various fields there is still one area that is lacking behind: Sustainability education of future generations in universities and especially in those where sustainability matters the most: Science and engineering in general and materials science and engineering in particular. This is a complex issue that needs to be solved not only theoretically and academically within universities themselves but also practically in close cooperation with industrial companies in order to serve the world long after the students have left universities. This is because any fruits of sustainability education in universities can be seen within the industrial companies where these students will work. In this paper an overview of a cooperation program between university and private foreign companies about setting up effective sustainability programs for materials science and engineering university education programs will be given with the focus on the practical industrial aspects of this education.

The problems of today cannot be solved with the same thinking that gave us these problems in the first place. Albert Einstein, 1946Once upon a time, there was a metallurgical company, Union Minière, with cumbersome reputation. An extreme make-over (Hoboken edition) turned this ugly duckling into a beautiful swan, Umicore. Rising out of the ashes of the phoenix of primary smelting, a recycling facility emerged, focusing on urban mining and processing industrial and consumer recycled products exclusively. Today Umicore is ready to take the next step. Inspired by megatrends such as the electrification of vehicles, the resource scarcity, renewable energy and emission control, Umicore is openly aiming to take up leadership in four areas of accelerated growth: Rechargeable battery materials for HEV, recycling, autocats and photovoltaics. Concurrently, ambitious sustainability targets have been set in the field of employee satisfaction, eco-efficiency and stakeholder involvement. In the driver’s seat of this whole metamorphosis has been and remains Umicore’s Precious Metals Refining (UPMR) plant in Hoboken. In this paper we will show how UPMR translates Umicore’s vision and strategy into everyday practice through its strategic vehicle: The EFQM business excellence model. Let us guide you through a path that baldly goes where no metallurgist has gone before and witness how a focus on sustainability actually creates tangible value, not just producing metals, but materials for a better life!

The use of surface minerals has enabled multi-year research, as a result of presentations slides and stairs not rational working surface mergeles mine in "Eat Jankovic, who have shown the complexity and impact of sustainability in changing the characteristics mechanical formations. This means that these formations as a problem interdiciplinar require a serious approach to the study and their use. With the development of science and technology arise new ways tajtimit problems in the use of formations in general and creating enough stability in particular, so in this context this paper deals with problems of this nature, which have been as a result of mining activity, thus exercising the right choice of optimal parameters of the working levels in view of geotechnical conditions, order of acquisition of geometric parameters for analysis of sustainability and gjeostatike analysis.

Material resources and access to resources are important topics with the general audience and policy makers alike. On the one hand metals are key ingredients for a ‘green society’ based on clean technologies (renewable energy, electric vehicles, ICT, …), while on the other hand their supply is not always certain and can be associated with undesired environmental and societal effects. (Inter)governmental bodies have recognized this paradox, which led to programs such as the Raw Materials Initiative and the Resource Panel. Recycling plays an important role in these programs. For successful recycling systems collaborative, joint stakeholder approaches will be necessary. Therefore also the metallurgical, recycling and manufacturing industry is actively involved in the discussion. This paper will provide insights in the contributions that recycling can make to the supply of critical raw materials. Besides technology aspects, also societal and supply chain aspects will be covered from the perspective of a company with broad expertise in metal recycling and high-tech materials.

To realise a truly sustainable society, huge changes will be needed. The solution will require new technologies, a matching legislative framework and, above all, education. Realising such solutions comes close to the perpetual challenge of beating Murphy’s Law... In this paper we present an approach to tackle such challenges, based on a combination of the Minimalist Approach of prof. Ramchandran Jaikumar, and prof. Roger Bohn. Three main lines of thought form the essence of this approach, namely information management, where the focus is on problem reduction, knowledge management, where managing the speed of learning is crucial, and modelling, the ideal tool to store and secure the gathered knowledge. Performant competence management is a logical consequence and keystone of this filosophy. This holistic approach has been succesfully applied within Umicore since the mid-nineties. It has led to a number of fundamental changes and helped Umicore’s metamorphosis from a basic metals production company to the materials technology group it is today, providing closed loop solutions to society for a better life in a sustainable world.

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