Ornamental stone has contributed significantly in shaping our rural and urban landscapes, through its use in our built heritage from different historical periods. Ornamental stone is today a raw material produced with great skills all over Europe, exploiting the vast diversity of European natural stone resources. Yet, the actual use of local and regional stone resources in Europe is decreasing, and so is the knowledge of the resources, traditions and skills.
EuroLithos is founded on the idea that increased knowledge of the geology, quality and history of use of natural stone in Europe will stimulate both more sustainable use of stone resources in Europe for the benefit of SME’s and our cultural heritage, and a sound land use management for the safeguarding of ornamental stone deposits.
EuroLithos addresses several aspects of the scope: identify and map the type and quality of construction materials, and provide tools and protocols for the assessment and comparison of deposits.
EuroLithos also addresses cultural heritage and building preservation aspects, since the maintenance of European heritage and a living stone industry are mutually dependent.
EuroLithos will result in an ornamental stone knowledge base under the umbrella of EGDI, covering harmonised spatial data on European stone resources, atlas of resources and use, a directory of ornamental stone properties and guidelines for valorising ornamental stone heritage.
EuroLithos will work in close collaboration with the GeoEra Information Platform. The EuroLithos consortium is composed of 16 partners from 14 countries, collectively forming a strong and innovative research group.

The European Union has identified security of supply, improvement in environmental management and resource efficiency as key challenges for the raw materials sector. Data regarding the location and spatial distribution of primary and secondary raw materials, with respect to exploration, exploitation, production and trade activities, underpin decision making in government and industry. Given the dynamic character of such data, regular updates of comprehensive, reliable and harmonized information across borders are required.
The overall aim of this proposal is to improve the European Knowledge Base on raw materials by updating the electronic Minerals Yearbook produced in the Minerals4EU project and to extend the spatial coverage and quality of data currently in the Minerals Inventory. The project will, furthermore, aim to increase the degree of harmonization, communication and interaction between existing data platforms, with the ambition of reaching a fully operational and reliable data knowledge management system, fulfilling the European needs and taking into account the Raw Materials Information System (RMIS) of the European Union. Importantly, the project will also integrate the electronic Minerals Yearbook into the Minerals4EU database, ensuring future sustainability as part of the EuroGeoSurveys-governed European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI). All results will be integrated in the GeoERA Information Platform that will, by end of the project, disseminate European raw materials intelligence in a uniform way to end users through a common web portal interface. Finally, the applicability of the UNFC classification system for obtaining more accurate Pan-European mineral inventories will be tested. http://geoera.eu/projects/mintell4eu7/