1. Introduction

Nearly two-thirds of the ACP States are either mining countries or have a mining potential that, if exploited rationally, could contribute to their social and economic development. The ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000, recognises the importance of the ACP mining industry in its Article 68. (http://europa.eu.int/comm/development/body/legislation/cotonou_en.htm).

Given this context, in order to foster greater development in the ACP mining industry by attracting investment, among other factors monitoring sustainable growth, the General Secretariat decided to provide the ACP States, the investors and all other interested parties with access to the relevant available data for this very important sector of their economies through this website.

Produced by BRGM, this website is populated with public data from BRGM’s databases and documentation or provided by the ACP states. For the East African countries, some data have been edited by SEAMIC.

The following elements have been included.

2. Metadata

Metadata are descriptors for factual data. Three types of metadata are presented:

public thematic maps; the themes are geology, marine geology, mineral resources, hydrology, tectonics and seismicity, geophysics, geotechnics, geothermal energy; geochemistry, the Quaternary and pedology; a bibliography of the primary books, publications and public reports; the geoscientific and mineral resources projects implemented by the ACP countries.

3. Datasets

3.1. Mineral deposits / mines

For each ACP country, relevant mining, mineral resource and geological data have been integrated. These data include:

a simplified geological base map; the location of each country’s main mineral deposits and mineral occurrences (metal ores and a selection of industrial rocks and minerals) and mines operating in 2002 (provided that the geographic coordinates are known); the operational status of each deposit (undeveloped, under development, or in production), the nature of the deposit, type of ore, a short metallogenic description of the deposit, the commodities produced or contained, the class of the deposit, and the average production during the last three years for which data were available (1999-2001 or 2000-2002, depending on data availability). The figures provided for each commodity concern the quantity of the mineral itself, not that of the bearing ore.

The deposits described are classified according to their total potential (past production + reserves + resources) for each commodity:

CLASSE	DEFINITION
A	Very large deposit
B	Large deposit
C	Medium deposit
D	Small deposit
E	Occurrence
N/A	No information available

The commodities included are listed in the table below. Those for which the identifier (ID) is not in bold face appear in the database only as by-products. Energy resources (petroleum, gas, coal) and common industrial minerals (sand, aggregate, etc.) are not included in the databank. See joint file for the details.

3.2. Country information

For each country, the following information is given:

national mineral production levels for each of the last 3 or 4 years for which data are available; an address book by sector, including the names, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and website addresses of institutions such as the Geological Surveys, Ministries of Mines, Ministries of Environment, Chambers of Mines, Investment Promotion Agencies, and the universities that have Geological Institutes or Schools of Mines; where they exist, addresses for the national offices of large international organisations such as the European Commission, the World Bank, and the Centre for the Development of Enterprise;

3.3. Global information

The website also includes links to the websites of international and bilateral organisations such as the European Commission, the organisations providing development aid to the member states, the General Secretariat of the ACP Group of States, the European Investment Bank, the Centre for the Development of Enterprise, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Environment Programme, regional organisations, the International Monetary Fund, the OECD, UNDP, etc. Links to related websites, such as mining and geology portals, are also included.

4. Data source, accuracy and usability

The metadata and data presented on this website have been assembled by BRGM,from its own public documentation and from public data found in published documents or on websites. Some data for the East African countries have been edited by SEAMIC. All of the member countries of the ACP Group of States were consulted by the Secretariat in order to update the data being presented.

The catalogue of published thematic maps is the product of original work conducted by the BRGM library’s documentation department. Data concerning Africa’s mineral deposits come primarily from a BRGM research project, under way for several years now, on the geology and mineral resources of the African continent. National production figures were supplemented by consulting the USGS " International Minerals Statistics and Information ", and the "World Mining and Metals Yearbook", published by the SIM (Société de l’Industrie Minérale) and the BRGM.

The geological base map used for the African countries is the one from "Géologie et principaux gisements d’Afrique" Map and GIS at 1:10,000,000 (Milési et al, 2004; published for the 20th Colloquium of African Geology, Orléans, France, 2-7 June 2004), which comes from the BRGM research project mentioned above. For the countries of the Caribbean and Pacific regions, the maps used are those published by the Commission for the Geological Map of the World (CGMW, Geological map of South America at 1:5,000,000, 2001, ; Geological map of the world at 1:25 000 000; 2000; ) and by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS, Global GIS Database, Digital Atlas of the South Pacific, Digital Atlas of Central and South America, 2000 ). The geographic base map used for the infrastructure maps is adapted from the DCW base map (Digital Chart of the World). The original maps remain the property of the owning organisations.

Every effort was made to provide accurate, complete, and usable information on this web site. However, some data and information accessed through these pages may, of necessity, lacking in precision or evolving with time. Therefore, the data and information are provided with the understanding that they are not guaranteed to be correct or complete. Users are cautioned to consider carefully the provisional nature of these data and information before using them for decisions that concern personal or public safety or the conduct of business that involves economic or operational consequences. Conclusions drawn from, or actions undertaken on the basis of, such data and information are the sole responsibility of the user. .

5. Description of the database

All the information is stored in a database and can be updated. This website is not dynamically linked to the database, but has been generated from it. To describe the database, only the data tables are listed, organized into five domains. Lexicon tables are not presented. Please, see the joint file for all the details.