When minerals are extracted and stored underground the quantities involved must be established. The Mining Act stipulates that within four weeks of the end of the month in which this data is gathered, the company concerned must submit the data to the Dutch government (see Articles 111 and 112 of the Mining Decree). After a further four weeks, the data becomes publicly available. TNO-NITG manages the data for the government and handles the data publication process. The data can be provided free of charge because in providing it TNO-NITG incurs no costs.

TNO-NITG provides data via DINOShop but can only provide the data submitted by the companies, and since the flow of information from the companies is not yet smooth, the information is incomplete.

Production
Companies must provide production data per well, per mining work and per licence. The requirement to provide data is not limited to minerals. All sorts of other substances can be brought to the surface during the extraction process. A company may also inject certain substances to facilitate extraction. The Mining Act states that in principle companies must report the quantities of all substances that they either remove from the subsurface or deposit there. For every mineral, companies must report the quantity that has been used in the mining work, the quantity that has been destroyed, and the quantity that is eventually delivered from the licence area. The quantity of mineral delivered is the net amount produced. The quantity removed from the subsurface is the gross amount produced.

The only data being made available via DINOShop pertain to oil and gas production. Data pertaining to the production of salt are not yet being submitted. The oil and gas data can be retrieved per well and per licence. Per well the data currently available state the gross quantities of the minerals and the water produced. Per licence the net quantities of minerals produced are available.

TNO-NITG holds data per mining work, but this information is incomplete. If you wish to access the data pertaining to a mining work, you can always inquire whether the data concerned is held at TNO-NITG (info@dinoshop.nl ).

Storage
Minerals are stored underground to create buffer stocks. In a given period, a stock may be both added to and drawn on. Per month, companies must report the quantity of minerals injected into the ground, the quantity extracted from the ground, the quantity used in the mining work, the quantity destroyed in the mining work and the quantity eventually delivered.

The Mining Act requires companies to provide the storage data per accumulation. An accumulation is an underground storage site. As each licence pertains to a single storage site, TNO-NITG provides the storage data per licence.

Please select a datatype at the home page if you want to request data.