59 – in the Lukovica quarry and the Velika Pirešica quarry (Strabag), the mining of the technical stone limestone by the method of drilling and blasting was replaced by introduction of mechanical mining method, which minimizes the environmental impacts, such as flying rocks, seismic vibrations, noise and dusting; – in the quarries of dimension stone Hotavlje I (Marmor Hotavlje), Lipica I, Lipica II, Dolina (Marmor Sežana) and Debela Griža (Kamnoseštvo Tavčar), instead of surface extraction in open quarry, the underground room and pillar method was introduced, which minimizes the effects of dimension stone blocks extraction on the appearance of the surface and on the environment, such as deposition of waste rocks on the surface dumps, noise and dusting [12, 16]; – in the Solkan technical stone quarry (Alpacem), conventional drilling and blasting method was upgraded by introduction of an electronic initial system, which reduced environmental impacts, such as flying rock, acoustic impact and seismic vibrations [11, 15]. European companies, EU countries and international organizations plan, fund and systematically develop technologies and practices for more efficient use of resources. An example is the EU Circular Economy initiative and various calls under Horizon 2020. A good example of Green Mining can be the R&D Green Mining Program, which was launched in 2011 by the Finnish Innovation Fund based on the strategy for the exploitation of mineral resources in Finland [17] (see Figure 9.). Figure 9 - Finland’s Green Mining concept [17] With the slogan "Finland, the leader in green mining 2020", the five-year program initiated the development of green technologies and innovations in various areas of green mining. The R&D program, which took place in the period 2011-2016, had a budget of EUR 115 million and included 98 projects implemented by 175 partners from the sector of large,
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