First Meeting of the ACP Ministers In ChargeOf The Development of Mining ResourcesBrussels – 13-15 December 2010

Ketema Tadesse – SEAMIC, TanzaniaMoussa Sylla – Ministry of Mines, SenegalMarc URVOIS – BRGM, France

African-European Georesources Observation System and Its Role In African Mineral Resources Development

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Background

> Africa mineral resources potential hosts the largest global mineral resources and deposits except for copper, lead and zinc:• gold 40%, cobalt 60%, PGM reserves 90%

• 40% of the world know reserves in bauxite, manganese, vanadium, gold, rhodium and diamond

> A unique archive of Africa-related geoscientific data and information exists:• they were acquired by African and

European geoscientific organisations;• public, disseminated, partly hard to identify

and access;• Several formats, several languages, under

various custodianships;• they should be identifiable and accessible

thanks to modern IT.Has Africa been sufficiently explored for minerals and does the full potential of its minerals been made use of for the benefit of its people?

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Why AEGOS?

Data realises its full potential and value when made accessible (at affordable cost), used and disseminated.

Developing the knowledge on mineral resources potential benefits to knowledge development on other underground natural resources e.g. groundwater and geothermal energy.

Sustainable use of geology-related resources requires data, information and expertise for informed decision-making.

Web-based Georesources databases are a key factor to base proper land-use planning/ environmental management policies and to attract local/ foreign investment both at large and small scales.

They are essential infrastructures for combining data, knowledge and skills in support of the sustainable development policies. The role of AU, UNECA, RECs, OAGS and the ACP Group of States is essential.

AEGOS scope:– Visibility and accessibility of accurate and reliable public data– Capacity building for qualified human resources– Efficient promotion of the available information on potential

resources with appropriate Intellectual Property Right management

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Objectives

African-European Georesources Observation System Strengthen the sustainable use of

underground resources in Africa by designing the SDI for Georesources based on interoperable geoscience data and user-oriented services

Safeguard, share and valorise the knowledge and data archived in African and European geological surveys

Support geoscientific communities and institutional decision-makers for sustainable development public policies

Elaborate common strategies for capacity building and training programmes

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ACP – EU initiative in FP7 RTD

Two Phases project Phase 1 (2008-2011) detailed design

of a multi-national georesources observation system

Main targets: institutional decision-makers, investors, geoscientific communities and education

9 European geological surveys 8 African counterparts: geological

surveys, ministries of mines, school of mines

4 International organisations: EU Commission (Joint Research Centre), CIFEG, UEMOA, SEAMIC

Lessons learnt from past EC & African and French-African Projects e.g. SIGAfrique 2003-2005, Mining Sector Support Programmes in Ghana (2002-2007) and Senegal (2005-2010)

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Project team – Advisory Board

Consortium of 23 partners

Advisors: AUC, UNECA, UNESCO, GSAF, OAGS, GEO, ICSU/ROA, EuroGeoSurveys

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Infrastructure components

Data sets

Intellectual PropertyRights management

Capacity buildingTraining schemes

Sustainablefunding

Charter of partnership

HardwareSoftwareNetworks

Skilled humanresources

Operational procedures

Standards

User-orientedproducts

User-orientedservices

Innovativeprojects

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AEGOS distributed infrastructure

Metadata on-line Data (on-line and off-line / e-

AEGOS) Products (on-line and off-line) Services (customised) Capacity building

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Data and SDI Architecture

AEGOS Data Themes– 4 main themes: Geology, Mineral resources, Groundwater,

Geothermal Energy Resources– Complementary data themes: Geophysics, Geochemistry,

Boreholes, Elevation model, Topographic maps, Remote sensing data, Administrative boundaries, Land use, Hydrology, etc.

Definition of data specifications for the AEGOS Spatial Data Infrastructure, a common Reference Model and metadata profiles

Definition of standardised hardware, software, network and other technical components as well as operational procedures required for AEGOS-SDI

Identifying a test-case area and relevant data sources and services for interoperability and interdisciplinarity

Integration with the other African SDIs developed at national and regional levels

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Capacity Building and Training

Identification of the gap between the existing and the required human resources capacity for operating AEGOS From the responses of 25 questionnaires, only few are up to

AEGOS required knowledge level

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Goals of Capacity Building Activities

CAPACITY BUILDING

[…]

Workflow how to prepare data and IT infrastructure for standardised dissemination

Dissemination of standardised dataand Operational Management

A1

A2

A3

Minimum Required Knowledge Baseline

AEGOSKnowledge Baseline

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Capacity Building and Training

Proposing organisation and curricula Definition of curricula, qualifications and outline of capacity

building modules Definition of the training infrastructure and organisation

Proposed training modules Basic training – below knowledge baseline

Open source applications (AEGOS supported) Definition of curricula, qualifications and outline of capacity

building modules Data management (national organisation responsible)

Foundation training – above knowledge baseline on the job training and basic guidelines on AEGOS basic SDI

(AEGOS supported) Operational training – above AEGOS required level

Data standardisation Information Technology Operational management

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User-Oriented Products and Services

Defining innovative user-oriented products and services. Areas of interest refined through questionnaires in:– Mineral resources– Construction raw materials– Groundwater – Geothermal energy

Identification of priority research themes for preparing innovative projects. Potential test-bed projects:– IGRAC – groundwater monitoring– WAXI – West African Exploration Initiative – Beak – geological predictive maps of Ghana– GD-SOM-UNZA – transboundary governance maps in Copperbelt

of ZAMBIA and CONGO…

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Sustainability of AEGOS

Sustainability of the “Georesource Observation System”

– Plan for sustainable Operation of AEGOS organisation

– Charter of Partnership including Data Sharing Recommendations

Definition of the future organisation of the AEGOS network throughout Africa for the commercial aspects to ensure AEGOS sustainability but also for training, data collection, processing and validation

Information dissemination and promotion of AEGOS services– AEGOS website accessed all around– Promotion of AEGOS by all partners in different forums

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Towards AEGOS Phase 2

AEGOS – Phase 1, 2008-2011 Infrastructure design and network

of contributors

Recent and upcoming events:– 5 workshops in Ghana, Senegal

and South Africa (October 2010)

– Results and Final Conference: Dakar, Senegal (April 2011)

AEGOS – Phase 2, 2012-2016 Extension of the network of involved

African countries and RE Communities All partners to reach the minimum

required baselines (equipment, skills) Infrastructure development and

implementation Training of concerned persons

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Results and deliverablesat the end of the future Phase 2

Distributed infrastructure of national multidisciplinary data sets

Internet and satellite-based access to public geoscientific metadata and harmonised data

Operational procedures and open standards to browse interoperable spatial information

User-oriented products and services: customised decision-support systems

Capacity building and training programmes

Permanent network of institutions and geoscientists

Charter of partnership - Intellectual Property Right Management

Funding model for the sustainability of the AEGOS infrastructure “Plan for Sustainable Operation”

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Benefits from AEGOS?

Become an active partner in designing and implementing a modern Spatial Data Infrastructure for georesources Africa and relevant capacity building programmes.

Benefit from the strength and efficiency of collective means and actions rather than at individual level.

Facilitate cross-border harmonisation of georesources data within the AEGOS networks of partners

Enhance the capacity to plan and build scenarios to better manage the non-renewable resources wealth in minerals, aggregates and groundwater.

Market investment opportunities in the georesources sector Improve the governance taking into account the socio-economic

factors Further develop domestic commodities to support the economy and

meet the Millennium Development Goals (poverty reduction) Enhance the level of human capacities through dedicated schemes

in information technologies and SDI management

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ACP countries (79); Africa (48); Caribbean (16); Pacific (15)

African countries: huge minerals, geothermal and groundwater resources

Caribbean: gold, copper rich, potential for geothermal

Pacific: bauxite and alumina, potential for geothermal

Adopt existing AEGOS-SDI and thereby save time and resources

Human Resources development of the new ACP State in areas where knowledge gaps are identified

Georesources institutions in these regions to be equipped with standardised hardware and software capable of running the AEGOS SDI

Facilitate access to the georesources of the new ACP states to potential investors

Benefits from AEGOS Participationby New ACP States

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Externalorganisation

as a Client

Member as a

client

Strategic and operative relationsStrategic integration of AEGOS

Customer relations

Operativerelations

Strategic relations

AEGOS core

System

PolicyInfrastructure &

TechnologyScience

Products(product sales)

Projects(project acquisition)

AEGOS Partners & Members

AEGOS Charter Partnership

External relationsInternal needs

Training

Service

Public Relation

Commercial/Semi commercial

Services(sales of services)

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Preparing AEGOS Phase 2: present context and opportunities

Africa-EU Strategic partnerships, including “Science, Information Society and Space” (Lisbon, 2007)

Action plans (1st on going / 2nd adopted at the 3rd Africa-EU Summit in Tripoli, Nov. 2010)

AU-EU college-to-college meeting in June 2010, Addis Ababa:– with participation of the Regional Economic Communities

Bilateral cooperation on raw materials– AUC “African Mining Vision 2050” (adopted Feb. 2009)– EC “Raw Material Initiative” (Communications Nov. 2008 & Nov.

2010)– Three subjects including Geological knowledge and Skills

> Phase 2 of AEGOS organisation is the natural follow-up of the bilateral-funded geoscientific projects and EU-funded Mining Sector Support Programmes.

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Preparing AEGOS Phase 2: present context and opportunities

AEGOS corresponds to the AMV 2050 ST Action 8 “Increase the level and quality of resource potential data”.

AUC “African Mining Vision 2050” (adopted by AU head of states on Feb. 2009)

– Different from past African plans by specifically clearing barriers to advance AMV (HR development, Infrastructure improvement, inclusive of the private sector, the academia, improve the quality of the business environment which all complement AEGOS objectives)

– AEGOS 2 implementation will therefore strengthen the shared vision through:• Transparent and optimal exploitation of mineral resources,• Assist broad based sustainable growth,• Improve governance that would reflect on mineral resources

development,• Improve the socio-economic development of Africa arising from the

mineral development.

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Preparing AEGOS Phase 2: Way Forward for Short Term Implementation

ACP Countries to develop public, harmonised and interoperable geoscientific information systems to support the geoscientific communities and institutional decision-makers for sustainable development public policies.

AEGOS is identified as a “practical example” which is technically possible to implement as an actual example of the AU-EU joint strategies in information systems.

AEGOS design Phase 1 (2008-2011) should be turned into an implementation Phase 2 (2012-2016), at ACP scale, with appropriate funding (10th EDF?) as part of the AU-EU partnership for the sustainable development of non-renewable underground natural resources.

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