| Agency Name: | Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières |
| Type: | Public company |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of France |
| Headquarters: | 3, avenue Claude-Guillemin, Orléans, France |
| Region Code: | FR |
| Coordinates: | 47.8302°N 1.9374°W |
| Chief1 Name: | Michèle Rousseau[1] |
| Chief1 Position: | Chair and managing director |
| Chief2 Name: | Christophe Poinssot |
| Chief2 Position: | Deputy Managing Director |
| Agency Type: | Public company |
BRGM is France's public reference institution in Earth Science applications for the management of surface and subsurface resources and risks. It also deals with geological surveys of French territory.[2]
BRGM was founded in 1959. It is a public establishment of an industrial and commercial nature (EPIC). It reports to the ministries in charge of research, ecology, and economical matters. It is based in the French prefecture of Orléans. Michèle Rousseau is its chair and managing director and Christophe Poinssot its deputy managing director.
BRGM's scope covers several activities: scientific research expertise, innovation and transfer, analysis and experimentation, mining risk prevention and safety, higher education, ongoing vocational training, dissemination of knowledge and open science. It employs more than 1,000 people, including over 700 engineers and researchers, at its 27 regional branches in Metropolitan France and French overseas territories. Its teams operate in some thirty countries.
BRGM's scientific strategy is based on six major scientific and societal challenges: geology and knowledge of the subsurface, management of groundwater, risks and spatial planning, mineral resources and the circular economy, energy transition and underground space, data, digital services and infrastructure.
The French Geological Survey [''Bureau de recherches géologiques et minières'' (BRGM)] was officially created by a decree on 23 October 1959.[3] It is the result of the merger of several French geological and mining establishments, namely:
BRGM developed its organisation and activities throughout the 1960s. During this decade, it gradually extended its coverage of the national territory, while its scope extended beyond the borders of France. In 1965, all the teams were grouped together at a single site, at Orléans-La Source. This new technical and scientific centre grouped together most of the institution's resources.
In 1968, BRGM absorbed the French geological mapping service, which had been created a century earlier by Napoleon III. This merger allowed it to cover the entire production chain, from field surveying to publishing.
Just as BRGM finished laying the foundations of its organisation and activities, the 1973 oil crisis occurred. The organisation rose to the challenge of ensuring the national supply, and became the key operator in France's prospection strategy. Its expertise and resources were also used for mining operations. In French regions and abroad, BRGM, with its growing reputation as the subsurface specialist, was henceforth increasingly called upon. After a golden age paradoxically due to the 1973 oil crisis, BRGM faced a series of difficulties throughout the 1980s. Several mining projects, in particular, folded. The establishment then strengthened its regional proximity and developed its role in renewable energies while focusing on commercial activities, particularly in the field of spatial planning. In the 1990s, mining and engineering activities were assigned to subsidiaries to enable the establishment to focus on its two missions of public service and scientific research.
In 1999, BRGM set up a new organisation to better tailor its offer to meet societal needs and better respond to new environmental challenges: groundwater resources, risks, geothermal energy, etc. By withdrawing from its activity as a mining investor and transferring most of its engineering work in France to its subsidiary Antea, which was then sold in 2003, BRGM asserted its research and development role. The new focus on the environment and natural hazards was confirmed by a decree of 20 September 2004[4] which placed BRGM under the triple supervision of the Ministries of Research, Industry and the Environment.
In 2019, BRGM reaffirmed its general public-service mission, combining research, support for public policies and innovation, in France and abroad. It presented its new 10-year scientific strategy, organised around six major scientific and societal issues.[5]
BRGM's activity covers 4 objectives:
BRGM's action covers several fields:
Scientific research at BRGM[6] aims to further geological knowledge and improve our understanding of surface and subsurface processes. It mobilises more than 700 BRGM engineers and researchers, i.e., two-thirds of the workforce.
BRGM's scientific research mission is carried out through:
BRGM participates in two thematic alliances whose aim is to coordinate public research stakeholders: AllEnvi (National Environmental Research Alliance)[7] and Ancre (National Alliance for the Coordination of Energy Research).[8] These programme partnerships coordinate the main actors in a field in order to design research and development programmes that are consistent with the national strategy.
BRGM's expert appraisal activity aims to provide customers with an interpretation, opinion or recommendation in response to a specific question. These assessments are drawn up on the basis of available knowledge and demonstrations accompanied by an objective judgement based on the best applicable practices.
Generating value from innovation is a major focus of BRGM strategy, along with research and expert knowledge. This involves creating as many opportunities as possible for transfer and economic development. For this purpose, BRGM has acquired the means to generate value from its inventions by ensuring that its concepts mature more quickly and promoting their development and innovation jointly with industrial partners.
Within its specific areas of expertise, BRGM designs and develops methodologies for conducting analyses, characterisations, observations and experiments – whether in laboratories or on pilot sites – in gas, water, soil and subsurface environments. BRGM has a wide range of scientific equipment and facilities for performing analyses, characterisations and experiments.
BRGM's laboratories and technological platforms work in particular in the areas of environmental chemistry, metrology, the environment and sensors, isotope geochemistry, mineralogy, and studies in microbiology and molecular biology. BRGM is also involved in multi-scale biogeochemical experimentation and the development of treatment processes.
Since 2006, France has entrusted BRGM with the technical management of surveillance and safety work of former mining sites and the prevention of mine-related risks.[9] BRGM manages: safety work as delegated project owner, supervision of mining site structures, the post-mining information system, (intermediate mining technical archives and mining information).
BRGM has a "Mining Prevention and Safety" department (DPSM).[10] In addition to its central departments based in Orléans, BRGM's mining safety mission is carried out in the regions by the Post-Mining Territorial Units (UTAMs), which cover the major mining basins.
Under the "BRGM Campus" label, BRGM provides support to higher education in geosciences. To do so, it develops collaborative programmes for different academic organisations. The aim is to cater for the needs of industry and society in all fields involving land and the subsurface.
BRGM Campus covers the entire range of higher qualifications (Bachelor's, Master's, doctorate) as well as BRGM's various fields of expertise in the geosciences.
BRGM ensures the development of scientific and technical skills by offering short courses and training courses, in-class or through distance learning, catalogue-based or tailor-made, under the BRGM Formation brand name.[11]
BRGM makes its geological and environmental information available through various digital technologies: via its InfoTerre portal it provides free and open access to its geological reports and maps, data in its databases (on the subsurface, industrial sites, natural hazards, etc.) and a large amount of other geoscientific data.
On request from the public authorities, BRGM also coordinates and manages several dozen websites and databases in the fields of geology, natural hazards (Géorisques[12]), water (ADES[13]), mineral resources (Minéralinfo[14]), geothermal energy (Géothermies[15]), etc.
To ensure easy access to its data from anywhere in the country, BRGM also provides three mobile applications: i-InfoTerre (mobile version of the InfoTerre web portal), InfoNappe (on groundwater) and InfoGéol (on the geology of France).
BRGM's scientific strategy is organised around 6 scientific and societal issues.[16]
Producing reference information on the subsurface is a key role for BRGM as the French National Geological Survey. The sustainable management of land and resources on local and regional levels requires extensive, reliable and current subsurface knowledge. After the geological map of France programme, BRGM designed the French Geological Repository (RGF),[17] a national programme for the acquisition and management of geological data that involves the entire French geoscience community.
Knowledge of the subsurface lays the foundation for improving the use of resources (e.g., water, energy, minerals and metals), adapting to the impacts of climate change, anticipating and mitigating natural risks and taking these into account in spatial planning. This is relevant to planners, economic stakeholders, environmental managers, education providers, civil society and the general public.
Faced with the challenges posed by global changes, one of BRGM's core missions is to further our knowledge of groundwater, by monitoring and anticipating its availability and ensuring its quality.
Groundwater resources are essential for the supply of drinking water and satisfying the needs of agriculture in many countries, and especially in France. Water resources are under increasing pressure from climate change and greater demand for different uses. Demand for groundwater resources may be exceeding supply at the local and regional levels.
For more sustainable spatial planning, BRGM is developing integrated approaches to the management of natural risks that have an impact on land, the subsurface and the coastline, as well as risks resulting from human activity, linked to post-mining, polluted sites and ground.
BRGM conducts research and expertise on natural geological hazards: earthquakes, unstable ground, collapsing cavities, volcanic eruptions, shrinkage and swelling of clays, etc. It is fully involved in the knowledge and management of coastal risks in the context of climate change. Methods and technologies for the decontamination of urban and industrial ground and the rational management of former mining sites also fall within its scope.
Confronted with increasing pressures on mineral resources, BRGM is working to ensure a sustainable supply and a more circular economy.
BRGM develops predictive approaches to facilitate the detection and prospecting of primary mineral resources. It observes mineral life cycles and value chains and is thus able to analyse the flows and dynamics involved, integrating environmental, economic and social factors to support the development of a more circular economy and more responsible mining. It also designs innovative solutions for optimising the processing and recycling of mineral materials, using technologies with reduced environmental impacts and lower energy consumption.
The energy transition implies a shift towards less centralised and more varied renewable and low-carbon energy sources. Similarly, reducing greenhouse gas emissions will require capture and storage.
BRGM explores, assesses and exploits subsurface potential as an energy resource (geothermal energy) and a space for storage (energy carriers,) and confinement.
BRGM collects, hosts and disseminates reliable and long-term geological and environmental data, to which it guarantees access through official and interoperable data repositories.
It also develops applications and innovative tools based on data science and geoscience to model, predict and produce information on the state of the surface and subsurface, their resources and associated risks.
In addition to its head office located in Orléans, BRGM has 13 divisions and 5 regional delegations in mainland France, as well as 5 regional directorates and an Overseas branch, which work closely with its clients and partners throughout the country. BRGM manages its mining safety responsibilities through its 4 regional post-mining units (UTAMs).[18]
BRGM's regional activities include support with policy development as well as expert studies and scientific research.
BRGM's regional divisions work in all BRGM's fields of activity. Water resources, natural risks, climate change impacts and subsurface geothermal potential in France are some of the core themes of BRGM's regional activities.
BRGM is actively engaged at EU level through its sustained involvement in European research programmes,[19] and support for public policy development and international cooperation.
Its work for the EU leads BRGM to:
Internationally, as it does in France, BRGM contributes its know-how and expertise in two main areas:
Every year, BRGM is active in around thirty countries in the following fields:
The BRGM Group's subsidiaries and equity interests are controlled through three holding companies (Sageos, Coframines and BRGM SA), corresponding to four branches of activity:
Our publications branch, Editions du BRGM, offers a selection of geological maps, books and popular geosciences material, which is unique in France.
In keeping with its research and expert study missions, BRGM disseminates scientific and technical knowledge for the scientific community, professionals, regional planners and the general public.
Created in 1998 by BRGM, in partnership with the French Institute the Academy of Sciences (Paris), the Prix Dolomieu,[20] named after the geologist Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, is awarded annually to European researchers or engineers in the fields of mathematics, physics, mechanics, computer science and Earth sciences.
BRGM has given its name to a major legal ruling handed down on 21 December 1987 by the first Civil Chamber of the French Cour de Cassation (court of appeal):[21] this judgment concerns “the general principle of law according to which the assets of public persons may not be seized", a principle that applies even to EPICs (Public establishments of an industrial and commercial nature) and which prohibits the use of proceedings for enforcement from private law against these establishments.