ABSTRACT
Mineral resources have been, are now, and will be a one of main factor of the economic and social progress of our societies. The 20th century was the century of practically global industrialization, unprecedented consumption of subsurface resources and impact to environment. Satisfaction of demand of mineral resources and the impacts on the environment of extracting minerals are of increasing public concern. Since the UNCED, held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, the paradigm of sustainable development has become an underlying concept in many documents. There is no single definition on sustainable development, however, most of them are based on three dimensions – economy, environment and society. In accordance with the spirit of the Rio Declaration, many countries in the world are now committing to the concepts of sustainable development and have taken initiatives to reconsider their national mineral resource management policy and to harmonize it with the conception of sustainable development.
