Abstract
This article reviews EU law relating to the regulation of mining and mining waste, liability for environmental damage caused by mining, remedies for environmental damage caused by mining, mine closure obligations and the nature of financial guarantees required to ensure the proper performance of environmental obligations, as well as developments in EU law which have resulted in the elucidation of human rights available at a supranational level to those subjected to severe pollution from mining activities. It notes that much of the world’s mineral resources are located in developing countries which have less sophisticated environmental regulations and greater potential to experience environmental and social disasters from mining activities than the EU, proposes the regulation of mines of international significance on a more global scale, and speculates whether the relatively sophisticated EU mining regulatory system can provide an embryonic model for this.