The flood that occurred in summer 1997 in Poland, affecting the drainage basins of the Odra and the Vistula, caused 54 fatalities and material losses of the order of billions of US$. The flood struck a large part of the country and caused inundation of 665 000 ha of land. The number of evacuees was 162 thousand. The rhetoric commonly used in Poland refers to the Great Flood of 1997 as an event whose scale exceeded all imagination about the possible size of the disaster. Indeed, historic maxima of river stage and flow rate were considerably exceeded. From the hydrological point of view, this flood was a very rare event, with a return period in some river cross-sections of the order of a thousand years and more. As this natural disaster, striking a dynamically developing country-in-transition, attracted much international interest, a holistic view of it is presented. Attempts to answer the questions: “Could the disaster have been avoided?” and “What lessons can be learnt from the flood?” are also made.

Between 1976–1990, the Polish Geological Institute performed geological works in the Polish Maritime Areas. During these works, 260 occurrences of concretions were recorded from 7,500 sampled sites. In 1980, the threshold that separates the Bornholm Basin from the Słupsk Furrow was mapped. Numerous Fe-Mn nodules on the seabed were found in that area. The results of detailed analyses of nodule samples collected from four sites are presented in this paper. Analyzed nodules represent discoidal D, irregular I, and transitional D-I types. The nodules are characterized by varied chemical composition of main oxides (Fe, Mn). The maximum Fe2O3 content is 26.63% and MnO 23.18%. Total average amount of REE + Y in the samples is approximately 165.11 ppm, ΣLREE 145.72 ppm and ΣHREE 19.39 ppm. The LREE content is enriched in comparison to HREE. The majority of nodules consist of Fe-Mn oxy-hydroxide minerals with very low crystallinity (practically amorphous phases). The main confirmed Mn-phases are birnessite and todorokite. Other main components of the nodules are: detrital quartz, albite, microcline, glauconite and muscovite, clinochlore, and clay minerals: illite and chlorite. The rate of growth of Fe-Mn nodules has been estimated using a cobalt chronometer. The nodule growth rate ranges from 0.006 to 0.134 mm/yr –1. Based on the Fe, Mn and (Cu + Co + Ni) contents, the origin of studied nodules is determined as hydrogenetic, while using REE (Cesn/Cesn · vs. Nd) – as diagenetic.

Eastern Indonesia, including the island of Halmahera, is a region with a high mineral potential, particularly Ni-Co, Au-Cu, and Ag ores, which are a globally important and critical source of raw materials (CRMs). The research was conducted within the framework of scientific cooperation between the Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw (Poland), and PT Halmahera Resources Percasa Ltd. (Jakarta, Indonesia) Between the years of 2009 and 2011, 42 boreholes were drilled using an impact system (up to 15 m below surface) and 3 test pits (up to 8 m below surface). The presence of a laterite deposit containing Ni-Co mineralization was identified on the license area. The resources estimated in accordance with JORC Code, with a cut-off grade Ni ≥ 0.5%, equaling 185,510 t Ni and 17,747 t Co, with the stock of raw material amounting to 14.8 million t and with an average content of 1.00% Ni and 0.13% Co. The ore in the deposit has mixed character. To date, studies have shown the dominance of oxide ore, but saprolite composed of magnesium silicates was also identified in significant amount. The Ni mineralization in oxide ore (limonite) is bound to goethite and manganese minerals, while in the case of silicate (saprolite) ore, it occurs locally in the form of veins as well as zonally in the weathered serpentinites. Cobalt mineralization is almost entirely related to the Mn minerals that occur in the lower oxide zone. It has been found that both serpentinites and harzburgites (and possibly locally lherzolite) are the parent rocks for laterite deposit.

The world sales of mobile phones is growing very dynamically (in 2015 reaching a level of approx. 1.92 billion units). The number of worldwide mobile phones in use is also rapidly increasing (it is estimated that their amount is approx. 7 billion units). The life cycle of a mobile phone is short (commonly approx. 18 months), which is mainly associated with the changing trends, technical progress and competition. This is the reason why a growing number of spent mobile phones (SMP) is stored in homes - the number of SM P worldwide is estimated at approx. 14 billion units. In Poland, estimated number of SMP stored in homes is approx. 100 million units (including approx. 30 million spent smartphones). Mobile phones contain various quantities of valuable metals such as: Cu, Ni, Ag, Au, PMG, Co, Li, Pb, Sn, Zn, REE , Ga, In, Fe, Cr, Nb, Ta, Ti. The concentration of such metals in mobile phones often times exceeds the concentration of these elements in primary deposits. It is estimated that SM Ps stored in Polish homes contain approx. 1,344 Mg Cu, 27 Mg Ag, 2.6 Mg Au, 1 Mg Pd, 4.3 Mg Nd, 0.8 Mg Pr, and 454 Mg Co. Worldwide, SMPs contain at least 196,000 Mg Cu, 70,000 Mg Co, 4,000 Mg Ag, 400 Mg Au, 140 Mg Pd, 630 Mg Nd, 126 Mg Pr. This creates new challenges for mineral resources management, especially regarding introduction of new effective directions of utilization of metals recovered from SMPs. The recovery of metals from SMPs will in fact decrease the extraction of minerals from primary deposits, which will have a positive impact on the environment, and reduce the stream of existing e-wastes. The collection of SMPs in Poland is currently at a very low level, probably not exceeding 1%. It is therefore necessary to introduce new efficient SM P collection systems combined, for example, with the obligation to transfer the spent telephone to the operator while obtaining a new one. The authors suggest the need to begin research on the development of efficient technologies of metal recovery from spent mobile phones.