On 1st May 2025, Ivonne Arenz (Figure 1) took over as managing director of the Association for Mining, Geology and the Environment (VBGU), Berlin/Germany. She succeeded Olaf Alisch, who is now taking well-deserved retirement after almost 20 years of successful service to the VBGU. “Thanks to European regulations and in view of the global constraints, the topic of “domestic mining” is increasingly coming to the fore. This is a good thing and must be supported even more clearly by the new federal government. The complex transformation tasks require raw materials, and Germany, with its sometimes considerable raw material deposits, can make a significant contribution to European raw material independence. However, raw material extraction and processing require changed framework conditions, such as faster approval procedures, the removal of bureaucratic hurdles and acceptance by the population. I am very much looking forward to working on this,” said Arenz on her election by the VBGU Executive Board.
Arenz brings comprehensive expertise and an extensive network to the raw materials and sustainability industry. She studied law at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena/Germany and completed her legal clerkship in Berlin. She has worked for various industry associations as well as for the Federal Company for Final Storage (BGE). Most recently, she was managing director of the Federal Association for Mineral Raw Materials. Her expertise ranges from national and European energy and environmental law to spatial planning and mining law. She is also familiar with sustainability issues and has already worked in this context for the Thuringian Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of Economics, and recently developed a sustainability guide for the rock industry. Arenz will work closely with the industry association Steinkohle und Nachbergbau (BSN) on behalf of member companies in the post-mining sector. (VBGU/Si.)
