German Mining Abroad

Country / Region: Germany / World

Begin of project: November 1, 2005

Status of project: April 1, 2014

Loading of industrial garnet in Western Australia Source: Quelle:Jebsen & Jessen-Gruppe

During the last decades, many of the formerly important German mining companies went out of business or sold their mining assets abroad. In 2006, the BGR conducted a first survey to identify German companies still being active in mining abroad. A second one was carried out by DERA in 2011. In all, 84 companies and private persons were identified, which through subsidiaries or co-operations, were still mining mineral or energy resources abroad. Most of these companies were well established enterprises with proven expertise in their field of work. More than 75 % of the companies were privately or family-owned, which means their decision-making was independent from shareholders’ demands.

The majority of the companies were engaged in mining of aggregates followed by industrial minerals, peat, energy resources, metals, and gemstones. After metal mining in Germany had ceased more than two decades ago, in 2011 only four German companies and two private firms were still mining metals abroad. More than 1,270 mining and extraction sites outside of Germany were owned by the surveyed companies. Most of them, however, had not been active abroad before 1991. This year marked the economic opening of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, which several German mining companies used as an opportunity. Currently, German companies are mining more than 40 different mineral raw materials in about 65 countries on four continents.

A new survey (in German) will be available at the end of 2016.