“We will know that the experiment has succeeded when the guidebooks recommend a visit to Milos to explore its fascinating 6,000+ year history of continuous mining” says Jessica Elzea Kogel, president of the international Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME) for 2013, in an article titled “Milos island: promoting mining through Geotourism” in the October 2013 issue of Mining Engineering (SME’s official magazine). The SME President visited Milos, Greece, on the occasion of her participation in the international Sustainable Development in the Mining Industry (SDIMI) Conference that was held in June on the island (See slideshow).
The article refers to the “unique situation on Milos, where mining and natural beauty coexist in a fascinating outdoor geological museum» and to geotourism as “a way to grow the local economy by simultaneously developing tourism and mining as mutually supportive activities». Regarding MILOTERRANEAN, SME’s president mentioned, among others, that «it offers visitors many ways to explore the island’s rich natural, cultural, and mining histories […]. One that particularly appealed to me is a series of seven Geo Walks linking significant mine, archaeological and geological sites through a network of well-marked goat paths and roads that traverse the island […] Armed with the high-quality fold-out maps available for each walk, I can easily imagine spending a week exploring the island’s many treasures […].”.