Major benefits and constraints related to mineral extraction within the EU have been identified on the examples of selected critical raw materials’ deposits. Analyzed case studies include the following ore deposits: Myszków Mo-W-Cu (Poland), Juomasuo Au-Co (Finland), S. Pedro das Águias W-Sn (Portugal), Penouta Nb-Ta-Sn (Spain), Norra Kärr REEs (Sweden) and Trælen graphite (Norway). They represent different stages of development, from the early/grassroot exploration stage, through advanced exploration and active mining, up to reopening of abandoned mines, and refer to different problems and constraints related to the possibility of exploitation commencement. The multi-criteria analysis of the cases has included geological and economic factors as well as environmental, land use, social acceptance and infrastructure factors. These factors, in terms of cost and benefit analysis, have been considered at three levels: local, country and EU levels. The analyzed cases indicated the major obstacles that occur in different stages of deposit development and need to be overcome in order to enable a new deposit exploitation commencement. These are environmental (Juomasuo and Myszków), spatial (Juomasuo) as well as social constraints (Norra Kärr, Juomasuo). In the analyzed cases, the most important constraints related to future deposit extraction occur primarily at a local level, while some important benefits are identified mainly at the country and the EU levels. These major benefits are related to securing long-term supplies for the national industries and strategically important EU industry sectors.

DYNA es una publicación científica general del área de las ciencias tecnológicas, fundada en 1933, es el medio de expresión de los trabajos en el área de ingeniería, ciencias y tecnología de la Facultad de Minas de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

En febrero de 2026, durante la emergencia por el tren de borrascas que afectó a Andalucía, el Grupo de Asesoramiento en Desastres y Emergencias (GADE-CSIC) fue activado por la Junta de Andalucía para evaluar la estabilidad de la ladera oeste-sur de Alcalá del Valle (Cádiz), donde aparecieron grietas, fracturas y deslizamientos superficiales tras lluvias excepcionales de hasta 160 mm/día. La ladera, de aproximadamente 1 km de longitud y 50 m de desnivel, está formada por margas y areniscas del Mioceno superior y colinda con zonas habitadas, lo que motivó el desalojo preventivo de 25 familias. Para evaluar y hacer un seguimiento, se combinó el reconocimiento geológico de campo con vuelos repetidos de dron equipado con sensores LiDAR y cámara RGB. El trabajo de campo distinguió un sector norte más estable de un sector sur margoso con deslizamientos rotacionales activos de tipo cuchara ligados a la saturación de las margas en zonas de cambio de pendiente. Cuatro campañas de vuelo (8, 12, 15 y 21 de febrero) proporcionaron ortofotos de 2,7 cm/píxel y Modelos Digitales de Elevación que, mediante análisis de diferencias (DoD), permitieron medir deformaciones de 20-50 cm en la fase inicial y confirmar una progresiva estabilización. Esta integración de cartografía geológica y teledetección de proximidad aportó datos objetivos sobre la magnitud y evolución de los procesos, respaldando las decisiones de protección civil.

Wildfires constitute one of the main agents of change in fire-prone landscapes. Beyond the immediate loss of vegetation and biodiversity, as well as the well-documented impacts on air and water quality, burned watersheds and hillslopes may trigger cascading geo-hydrological hazards in the weeks to years following a fire. Moreover, climate change is increasing the extent and intensity of wildfires, extending their impacts to territories with diverse geological and geomorphological characteristics, including high-altitude ecosystems with a greater extent of exposed rocky areas.Despite extensive research on fire effects on vegetation and soils, knowledge gaps remain regarding the impact of wildfires on exposed rock outcrops and boulders directly affected by flames. In particular, little is known about how fire-induced thermal stress and accelerated rock weathering influence post-fire geo-hydrological processes. Much of the current understanding is based on qualitative observations rather than quantitative measurements, highlighting the need for systematic field-based studies to assess the effects of fire on rock materials.This study presents field-based data collection and analysis from two case studies conducted over different post-fire periods. The first examines a short-term post-fire scenario following the 2025 Yeres wildfire affecting the Las Médulas Cultural Heritage Site (León, Spain), focusing on the assessment, sampling, and quantification of fire effects on rock materials using a hybrid methodological approach that integrates ecological sampling with non-destructive techniques (NDTs). The second case addresses mid-term fire effects after the 2023 Arafo wildfire (Tenerife, Spain) through a comprehensive inventory of slope instabilities and erosion processes triggered by the fire. Together, these complementary case studies provide an integrated framework for understanding both the direct and indirect impacts of wildfire processes operating at different temporal scales.This work was developed within the framework of the CSIC Scientific Technical Advisory Group for Emergency Crises (GADE CSIC, Spain) and the project DINCAN (ref. 20125), funded under the 2024 Call for the Promotion of Scientific, Technological, and Innovation Culture (I+P) by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT).