Released April 07, 2025 | GALWAY, IRELAND
en
Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The European Commission (EC) has announced a list of 47 key projects designed to reduce its dependence on China for strategic raw materials, including lithium, nickel and cobalt among others.
It is the first time that the Commission has embarked on a wide-scale strategy to secure its own sources of strategic raw materials. The projects listed will be fast-tracked through the permitting process and will have access to financial support. Permits will take no more than 27 months for extraction projects, and 15 months for processing and recycling projects. This compares with an average of 10 years at present, the Commission noted. The 47 projects were chosen from 170 that had been submitted and are located across 13 European Union (EU) Member States: Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Estonia, Czechia, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Poland and Romania. Full details on which projects have been chosen have yet to be released.
The EC is accelerating major efforts on a number of fronts to secure its industrial base in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the looming imposition of U.S. trade tariffs on its automotive, steel and aluminum industries, and aggressive posturing by President Donald Trump about taking over Greenland's mineral resources. For additional information, see March 24, 2025, article - Europe Hits Back with $28 Billion of Tariffs Against U.S.. Last week, Industrial Info reported on the Commission's action plan to help its struggling steel and metals industries. The Steel and Metals Action Plan forms a key part of the EU's recently announced Clean Industrial Deal, a 100 billion-euro (US$105 billion) funding plan to boost support for energy-hungry industries that face "high energy costs and fierce and often unfair global competition." For additional information, see March 31, 2025, article - Europe's 'Action Plan' to Rescue Steel Industry.
All of the chosen projects cover one or more segments of the raw material value chain, with 25 in extraction activities, 24 in processing, 10 in recycling and two in substitution of raw materials. Combined they "ensure that the EU can fully meet its extraction, processing and recycling 2030 benchmarks for lithium and cobalt, while making substantial progress for graphite, nickel and manganese." In addition, projects involving magnesium (one project) and tungsten (three projects) are designed to boost the resilience of the EU's defence industry, which relies on the use of these materials.
"For a long time, raw materials were the blind spot in our industrial policy," said EC the vice president responsible for industrial strategy, Stéphane Séjourné. "Too complicated, too expensive, too time-consuming to produce, Europe often preferred to buy most of the raw materials it needed almost exclusively outside its borders. Until the Covid crisis and the war in Ukraine recently reminded us of the dangers of our dependence. Decarbonization is not possible without raw materials. No gallium to build solar panels, no copper to transmit electricity. No defense industry without the rare earths that make up our radars, sonars and targeting systems - and for which, we are 100% dependent on Chinese refined materials. There can be no industry without copper, aluminum or the manganese that reinforces the structure of steel."
He added: "We must extract in Europe - with the opening of new mines. We must transform in Europe, we must recycle in Europe. In a nutshell, we must strengthen our value chain for Critical Raw Materials (CRM). We have a legal basis, with clear objectives. By 2030, Europe must extract at least 10% of strategic raw materials, process at least 40% of them and recycle at least 25%."
At the same time, Séjourné drew parallels with Europe's heavy reliance on Russian fossil fuels in the past. "We do not want to replace our dependence on fossil fuels with dependence on raw materials. "Chinese lithium will not be tomorrow's Russian gas." The Strategic Projects cover 14 of the 17 strategic raw materials listed in the Critical Raw Materials Act. Lithium projects dominate the list with 22 projects, followed by nickel (12 projects), cobalt (10 projects), manganese (7 projects) and graphite (11 projects).
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
It is the first time that the Commission has embarked on a wide-scale strategy to secure its own sources of strategic raw materials. The projects listed will be fast-tracked through the permitting process and will have access to financial support. Permits will take no more than 27 months for extraction projects, and 15 months for processing and recycling projects. This compares with an average of 10 years at present, the Commission noted. The 47 projects were chosen from 170 that had been submitted and are located across 13 European Union (EU) Member States: Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Estonia, Czechia, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Poland and Romania. Full details on which projects have been chosen have yet to be released.
The EC is accelerating major efforts on a number of fronts to secure its industrial base in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the looming imposition of U.S. trade tariffs on its automotive, steel and aluminum industries, and aggressive posturing by President Donald Trump about taking over Greenland's mineral resources. For additional information, see March 24, 2025, article - Europe Hits Back with $28 Billion of Tariffs Against U.S.. Last week, Industrial Info reported on the Commission's action plan to help its struggling steel and metals industries. The Steel and Metals Action Plan forms a key part of the EU's recently announced Clean Industrial Deal, a 100 billion-euro (US$105 billion) funding plan to boost support for energy-hungry industries that face "high energy costs and fierce and often unfair global competition." For additional information, see March 31, 2025, article - Europe's 'Action Plan' to Rescue Steel Industry.
All of the chosen projects cover one or more segments of the raw material value chain, with 25 in extraction activities, 24 in processing, 10 in recycling and two in substitution of raw materials. Combined they "ensure that the EU can fully meet its extraction, processing and recycling 2030 benchmarks for lithium and cobalt, while making substantial progress for graphite, nickel and manganese." In addition, projects involving magnesium (one project) and tungsten (three projects) are designed to boost the resilience of the EU's defence industry, which relies on the use of these materials.
"For a long time, raw materials were the blind spot in our industrial policy," said EC the vice president responsible for industrial strategy, Stéphane Séjourné. "Too complicated, too expensive, too time-consuming to produce, Europe often preferred to buy most of the raw materials it needed almost exclusively outside its borders. Until the Covid crisis and the war in Ukraine recently reminded us of the dangers of our dependence. Decarbonization is not possible without raw materials. No gallium to build solar panels, no copper to transmit electricity. No defense industry without the rare earths that make up our radars, sonars and targeting systems - and for which, we are 100% dependent on Chinese refined materials. There can be no industry without copper, aluminum or the manganese that reinforces the structure of steel."
He added: "We must extract in Europe - with the opening of new mines. We must transform in Europe, we must recycle in Europe. In a nutshell, we must strengthen our value chain for Critical Raw Materials (CRM). We have a legal basis, with clear objectives. By 2030, Europe must extract at least 10% of strategic raw materials, process at least 40% of them and recycle at least 25%."
At the same time, Séjourné drew parallels with Europe's heavy reliance on Russian fossil fuels in the past. "We do not want to replace our dependence on fossil fuels with dependence on raw materials. "Chinese lithium will not be tomorrow's Russian gas." The Strategic Projects cover 14 of the 17 strategic raw materials listed in the Critical Raw Materials Act. Lithium projects dominate the list with 22 projects, followed by nickel (12 projects), cobalt (10 projects), manganese (7 projects) and graphite (11 projects).
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
