NEW MINING AREAS IN THE REGIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The basis of mining activity in our country is conditioned by the prior approval of the protected deposit area and subsequently by the mining area. After 1989, the announcement policy of mining areas was fundamentaly changed. The most significant changes were related to the commodity reorientation. Basically all mining areas oriented on the extraction of ores were gradually being abolished. Mining areas for the extraction of coal were also significantly narrowed down. Regarding the spaciousness, this area represented the most extensive one with direct socioeconomic and environmental impact on the development of municipalities, towns and regions. Nowadays in the Czech Republic, there are almost thousand mining areas that cover one per cent of the whole country's area. In the last decade, the structure of the newly approved mining areas is dominated by oil, natural gas and kaolin. This paper assesses regional differences and approaches to the process of approving new mining areas at the level of state and local governments. The assessment focuses on the period from 1990 onwards.