Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 14 to 16 January, hosted the fourth edition of the Future Minerals Forum – one of the most important conferences for the mining industry, setting global priorities and trends not only in the mining and processing industry but also in the world economy. At the center of the discussions were society’s rapidly growing needs for critical raw materials needed for renewable energy production and the actions needed to scale up their extraction (https://www.futuremineralsforum.com).
Ministers from more than 80 countries, heads of the largest mining and processing companies, leading global investors, representatives of educational and scientific institutions with a geological focus were participating. At the personal invitation of the organizers, the Director of the Geological Institute at BAS, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetoslav Georgiev, represented Bulgaria at a round table discussion organized with heads of geological services and similar organizations from a number of countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. In the main part of the program, Assoc. Prof. Georgiev gave a lecture on critical raw materials, presenting the National Scientific Programme “Critical and Strategic Raw Materials for Green Transition and Sustainable Development” in which the Institute of Geology at BAS has a major participation.
