The mining sector leaves a strong footprint on the Greek economy, IOBE underlined during the presentation of a study on the economic and social footprint of the Hellas Gold investment.
In particular, the activity of the mining sector and its strengthening can contribute to the resilience of the Greek and European economy, since the sector has a significant contribution to the green transition and the digital transformation with the critical raw materials being an essential element for the development of the required technologies.
As emphasized by the General Director of IOBE, N. Vettas, “a cycle of the Greek economy where everything was going relatively well is ending. The question now is what you do from now on with a specific strategy and focus on exports and production, which also includes the mining sector.”
Greek mining
In Greece, there is already active mining for 5+1 critical mineral raw materials (bauxite, nickel, cobalt, magnesite, silicon and copper) and geological exploration is being carried out for another 9 (arsenic, gallium, light rare earths, heavy rare earths, scandium, platinum group metals, tungsten, germanium, graphite), highlighting the country as a potentially important supplier of raw materials to the EU, which can contribute to the wider adoption of sustainable technologies.
With the exception of lignite, which is declining due to the withdrawal of lignite power plants, the production of the remaining mining products has had a strong upward trend in the last decade, approaching 41.9 million tons in 2023, from 18.4 million tons in 2013.
The contribution to GDP and employment
The contribution of the mining and quarrying industry exceeds 2.9 billion euros in terms of GDP (1.4% of the country’s total for 2022).
In terms of employment, it directly offers approximately 15.8 thousand full-time jobs, with the total contribution, taking into account indirect and induced effects, approaching 53.2 thousand jobs.
Greece has significant proven copper reserves (2.6 million tons) that will contribute to the autonomy of the country and the rest of European countries. With the operation of the mine in Skouries, the average annual production is expected to approach 140,000 ounces of gold and 67 million pounds of copper. Once operational, the Skouries Mine, as one of the few sources of copper in Europe, aims to make Greece a significant producer of this strategic metal.
