While working at the Eden Project, Pete Whitbread-Abrutat was invited by Cornwall Council to act as the Cornwall Regional Coordinator for the 30-month European Network of Mining Regions (ENMR) project. Cornwall has a very long and very proud history of metal and china clay mining. The county’s mining related challenges and opportunities revolve around current large-scale mineral extraction issues as well dealing with decades of post-mining socio-economic decline.
ENMR involved 20 partners from 10 EU states and included local and regional authorities, universities and research institutes, industry, NGOs and development agencies, from a diverse range of European mining areas. Each project partner represented a group of other mining stakeholders from their particular mining region. The aim of the project was to produce a roadmap for the future of the European mining industry to address concerns over security of metals and minerals supplies, access to land, environmental and social issues and sustainable development.
Pete’s responsibilities included project and budget management, stakeholder liaison and consultation, including organising and chairing regional meetings of Cornwall and Devon mining stakeholders, international collaboration, organising events, public engagement and communication. He set-up and worked with a Cornwall regional group on a detailed socio-economic and environmental analysis of the current mining industry in the region. The project ended with a high-profile unveiling of ENMR’s Roadmap for European Mining Regions at a bespoke, day-long conference in Brussels, which included members of the European Parliament, DG Enterprise and other EU departments and agencies, with notable speakers.
