Historia, definicje i regulacje złóż antropogenicznych

A b s t r a c t.Besides presenting the current literature, attempts at regulation, and practice concerning anthropogenic deposits, the paper outlines the history of applying the Geological and Mining Law to them, along with its legislative changes.The author discusses both the legal provisions and their application in practice from 80 years ago, as well as current proposals, which constitute a rich body of work providing many interesting considerations and solutions.However, it is suggested that, in order to avoid inefficiency and chaos, there must be compatibility between regulations and solutions derived from science and practice in fields such as geology and mining, energy, environmental protection, waste management, water management, raw material strategy in the economy, and spatial planning.When considering the issues of anthropogenic deposits, the paper takes the following initial assumptions into account: The common and naturally diverse occurrence of mining waste and waste from the processing of mineral raw materials has long justified the need to introduce regulations for their exploration and exploitation.The wide variability and inaccuracy in attempts to practically define anthropogenic deposits require a new statutory definition, distinguishing mining waste from the processes of treating/beneficating the excavated mineral (or mine output) and differentiating it from waste resulting from raw material processing and market production.It is also required to differentiate historical secondary deposits (landfills from previous centuries, tailings piles/waste dumps, and certain rock raw materials not classified as useful minerals, which are today partially considered sour-ces of critical raw materials).Prior to the inventory of prognostic accumulations of mineral waste, it is necessary to adopt regulations concerning their classification, identification, and exploitation.