Bulgaria - host of the European Minerals Day 2011
On 13 May, the European Minerals Day 2011 was festively inaugurated at the Kaolin JSC quarry site in Vetovo. 

The ceremony took place in an open quartz and kaolin quarry and welcomed more than 200 guests, among which representatives from the European Parliament, the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water, the European Commission, the regional and local government, the Bulgarian Chamber of Mining and Geology, Bulgarian Confederation of Employers and Industrialists, European and Bulgarian trade associations, the University of Mining and Geology, industry representatives, etc.

Mr. Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for the Environment, lend his personal support to the European Minerals Day 2011 Launch Event (see video-message). He expressed his readiness for joint work on implementing a resource-efficient European roadmap as part of the Europe 2020 Strategy: “The quarrying and mining sector can preserve our environmental assets. The extractive industry has the experience in integrated planning, management and restoration – the things that are good for biodiversity and for business”.

Mr. Alexander Prokopiev, Kaolin JSC Chief Executive Officer, expressed: "It is a great pleasure for us to host this event. Industrial minerals quarries are often adjacent to Natura 2000 sites. We can certainly say that through our responsible operations we not only do not jeopardize populations, but we in fact work in symbiosis with biodiversity”.

After the ceremonial launch, the guests were invited to guided visits of the Kaolin JSC plant with a showcase on resource efficiency, a tailings dam and an exhausted quarry that has turned into a new habitat for dozens of species and offered a very nice showcase for biodiversity.

On 12 May, a Minerals and Biodiversity exhibition “Shadows on the Rocks” was inaugurated at the Ruse Regional Museum of History, organized in joint efforts with Kaolin JSC at the occasion of the EMD 2011.