This year's public survey by the Estonian Geological Survey on attitudes toward mineral extraction placed greater focus on phosphate. The results showed that only 12 percent of respondents were opposed to phosphate mining. Sixty-nine percent of people agreed that phosphate extraction could begin in Lääne-Viru County within the next couple of decades.

"This gave us confidence, in the case of phosphate, that Estonians are fairly rational and are waiting for research results and real data. The emotional reactions often highlighted in the media — suggesting people are strongly against phosphate studies and mining — do not hold up according to this survey," said Erki Peegel, adviser at the Estonian Geological Survey.

The main condition cited by respondents was that a thorough and impartial environmental impact assessment must be conducted, with a clear understanding of the potential negative effects of mining and how those impacts would be mitigated. Seventy-seven percent of men and 51 percent of women said mining should be allowed or allowed under certain conditions. Ten percent of men and 28 percent of women said they were unsure whether mining should be permitted.

While public attitudes toward other minerals remained relatively unchanged over the past year, support for oil shale extraction rose sharply — by more than ten percentage points. Currently, 62 percent of respondents support oil shale mining.

"With oil shale, we've seen a four-year trend where people perceive the environmental risks associated with oil shale to be decreasing. At the same time, the number of people who believe oil shale should be mined has grown," Peegel said.

According to Meelis Münt, head of regulatory affairs at VKG, the public increasingly understands that the oil shale industry is one way to ensure Estonia's energy security.

"The oil shale sector provides thousands of jobs and tax revenue for the state. Even if the government remains skeptical about the future of oil shale, people see that any added value to the Estonian economy is important, and the oil shale industry delivers that," Münt said.

Forty-five percent of Estonia's residents are very or somewhat aware that mineral exploration is taking place in the country. Fifty-six percent of men and 35 percent of women said they are very or somewhat familiar with such exploration.

Estonians consider the study of phosphate and metal ores increasingly important, particularly in light of their potential economic value. Over the past four years, support for phosphate exploration has risen by 13 percentage points and for metal ores by 15 points.

More than 1,000 people took part in the survey on attitudes toward mineral extraction.

Estonians have been wary of phosphate mining since the so-called Phosphorite War of the late 1980s when the Soviet Union sought to open large phosphorite mines in Lääne- and Ida-Viru counties. The protest movement, peaking in 1987, was successful in achieving its immediate goals, but also in encouraging and strengthening the nationalist movement which led to the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991.

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