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Apply for a general preliminary assessment to determine whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required in mining

  • Abfall und Umweltschutz
  • Unternehmensstart und Gewerbezulassung

If you are planning a new, modified or extended mining project or if projects are cumulative, in certain cases you must initiate a general preliminary assessment to determine whether an environmental impact assessment must be carried out.

  • Basic information

    If your company is active in mining and you are planning a new mining project, expansion, modification, development or testing project, or if projects are cumulative and the requirements for a general preliminary assessment are met, the competent authority must carry out a general preliminary assessment. With this general preliminary assessment, the authority determines whether an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is mandatory for your project.

    The authority bases its preliminary assessment on criteria from the following areas

    • Characteristics of the project
    • Location of the project
    • Type and characteristics of possible impacts

    The project sponsor is obliged to prepare the preliminary assessment and provide the competent authority with relevant information on the characteristics of the new project, extension, modification, development and testing project, the location and the possible significant environmental impacts.

    The following projects, for example, require a general preliminary assessment:

    • Construction and operation of a quarry with an extraction area of 10 ha to less than 25 ha
    • Extraction of crude oil (up to 500 tons) and natural gas (up to 500,000 m3) for commercial purposes
    • Disposal or removal of reservoir water from oil and gas mining
    • Construction of a railroad line for mine or mine connection railroads with the associated operating facilities
    • Water transport pipelines for transporting water from open-cast mine drainage or pipelines for transporting saline water from the extraction and processing of potash and rock salt, including those from potash dumps, which exceed the area of the operating site with a length of 25 km or more
    • Underground storage facilities for natural gas with a capacity of 1 billion cubic meters or more
    • Underground storage facilities for crude oil, petrochemical or chemical products with a capacity of 50,000 to less than 200,000 tons
    • Other deep wells from a depth of 1,000 meters for the extraction of mineral resources,
    • Other projects subject to operational planning requirements, including measures subject to operational planning requirements for the implementation of mining projects

    In addition to the general preliminary assessment, there is also a site-specific preliminary assessment. You can find out which projects qualify for the general preliminary assessment in the list "Projects subject to EIA" in Annex 1 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (UVPG) and the Ordinance on the Environmental Impact Assessment of Mining Projects (UVP-V Mining).

    During the preliminary assessment, the authority takes into account whether significant adverse environmental impacts are obviously excluded by the characteristics of the project, the site or by your precautions. If the authority has the results of upstream environmental assessments or other legally required investigations into the environmental impacts of the project, it includes these results in the preliminary assessment.

    Requirements

    • You and your company are active in the mining industry and are planning a new mining project, modification, expansion, research or development project, or
    • Your project is closely related to other projects of the same type (independent of the company) and the requirements for the obligation to carry out a general preliminary assessment are met in total or
    • You have not yet applied for an environmental impact assessment or the test values are reached or exceeded again
    • Your project is either:
      • listed in the EIA Mining Ordinance as a general preliminary assessment or
      • listed in the UVPG, Annex 1, column 2 with "A" or
      • Your research or development project is listed with "X" in the EIA Act, Annex 1, column 1

  • Procedure

    You can apply for the general preliminary inspection online via the "BergPass" platform or in writing to your competent mountain authority.

    Apply for a general preliminary inspection online via the "BergPass" platform:

    • Call up the "BergPass" online platform and log in.
      • To register, you will need a bundID and an identity card or residence permit with an active online ID function or
      • A company account
    • Call up the application and fill it out completely and truthfully.
    • Upload the required documents as a file and send the application.

    Apply in writing to the competent mining authority for a general preliminary examination:

    • Contact your competent mining authority and coordinate the required application documents.
    • Submit the application and all required documents to your competent mining authority.

    Further procedural steps:

    • The competent mining authority will check whether an environmental impact assessment is required for the approval of your project.
    • If the competent authority has carried out a preliminary assessment, it will inform the public of the result of the determination of the EIA obligation and state the main reasons for the existence or non-existence of the EIA obligation.
    • If an EIA is to be carried out, the next step is usually to determine the scope of the investigation for the EIA report. The mining authority will inform and advise you at an early stage about the content, scope, level of detail and the methods to be used for the investigations.
    • The competent authority can give you the opportunity to discuss the scope of the investigation.
    • You will also receive a notice of costs. Pay the fees.

    More information

    Legal remedy:
    You cannot contest the determination of the EIA obligation. If the determination is based on a preliminary assessment, the only thing that can be examined in court proceedings is whether the preliminary assessment was carried out in accordance with the statutory requirements and whether the result is comprehensible.

  • Necessary Documents
    • You must provide the following information for the general preliminary review:
      • Information on the physical characteristics of the entire project and the demolition work,
      • Information on the location of the project and the ecological sensitivity of the areas, as well as on the protected assets that may be affected by the project,
      • possible significant effects of the project on the protected assets concerned as a result of
        • the expected residues and emissions and, where applicable, the generation of waste
        • the use of natural resources, in particular land, soil, water, animals, plants and biodiversity,
      • the results of upstream environmental assessments or other legally required studies on the environmental impacts of the project.

  • Competent Department

  • Online Services

  • Fees / Costs

    bis 96,73 EUR for a civil servant in career group II, second entry level (A13 - A16) or employees in a comparable pay group.
    bis 79,31 EUR for a civil servant in career group II first entry level (A9 - A13S) or employees in a comparable pay group.
    bis 62,88 EUR for a civil servant in career group I, second entry level (A5 - A9S) or employees in a comparable pay group.

  • Deadlines & processing time

    What deadlines must be paid attention to?

    There is no deadline.

    How long does it take to process

    6 weeks

  • Legal Bases

  • More Information

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This page has been automatically translated by DeepL. We cannot guarantee that the translation is correct.

The official information in German is complete and correct. 24.02.2026

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