Region: Europe

European Green Metals: Unlocking Europe’s critical minerals with the Olserum rare earth element project

It is increasingly apparent that Europe must develop its own supply chain of critical minerals to support its green energy strategy. European Green Metals Ltd (EGM) aims to help in this regard, developing a portfolio of critical minerals projects, including the Olserum rare earth element (REE) project in southern Sweden, which has the potential to be Europe’s first REE mine.

Research suggests Europe needs to increase today’s critical minerals four-fold by 2040 for the deployment of clean energy technologies. Responsibly boosting global supply and avoiding critical mineral shortages is therefore paramount, no more so than in Europe, which has reached a critical juncture. As highlighted by European metals association Eurometaux, the next five years will decide whether the continent succeeds in recovering and growing its sustainable metals and minerals value chains, or whether other areas of the world push further ahead in the global resources race.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recognised this earlier in the year when she stated: “Lithium and rare earth elements will soon be more important than oil and gas. Our demand for rare earths alone will increase five-fold by 2030… we will identify strategic projects all along the supply chain, from extraction to refining, from processing to recycling. And we will build up strategic reserves where supply is at risk.”

As a global hub for electric vehicles (EVs), gigafactories, wind turbines, solar, and battery storage, combined with world-class expertise in chemical industries, processing, and the refining of imported speciality metals, Europe should be in a stronger position than it is. Yet, there is a distinct lack of quality critical mineral projects on the horizon.

Whilst there has been an absence of exploration in the region, the continent has the geological potential to host a variety of substantial critical metal deposit types. Indeed, many countries have long mining histories, including Sweden which has 12 operational mines, recognised geology, infrastructure, and supportive in-country legislation. With European economic policy at the forefront of maintaining its competitive advantages, and political support from the EU Green Transition lobby, projects such as Olserum need to be rapidly advanced through permitting.

David Hall, CEO of EGM, said: “Critical mineral projects must be advanced quickly or we risk missing key environmental targets, which will have dire consequences on the world.”

EGM, with its team of highly experienced geologists, scientists, and financiers, has the experience and knowledge to take projects like the Olserum rare earth element project forward. Having operated worldwide, it has successfully developed natural resource projects under coherent and encompassing mandates driven by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles. Its understanding of economic geology, in tandem with environmental considerations and continual stakeholder engagement, has enabled the team to advance projects from exploration through to production.

Until recently, Hall was Chairman of Horizonte Minerals Plc – a company that has taken a Tier 1 nickel asset in Brazil from exploration through development to fully-financed construction. Other team members include the successful entrepreneur Cathal Friel, Co-Founder of Amryt Pharma Plc, which was acquired for $1.48bn in January 2023, and Michael Nolan, the former Finance Director and Founder of Cove Energy plc, which he guided through its £1.2bn sale to Thailand’s PTTEP.

Olserum: Project of National Interest

Since the REE mineralisation at the 6.5km² Olserum licence (Fig. 1) was first identified in the 1990s by the Swedish Geological Survey (SGU), significant work has been undertaken at the project, resulting in the publishing of an initial 43-101 compliant Indicated Resource of 4.5Mt grading 0.6% Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) and an Inferred Resource of 3.3Mt grading 0.63% TREO using a 0.4% cut-off in 2013.

Fig, 1: Olserum location and licence area

The SGU designated Olserum as a project of National Interest for rare earths in May 2023. This establishes Olserum as a project of particular importance, which should hold priority over other land use where appropriate and protect it against measures that could complicate possible future extraction. The company is pleased with this recognition, even though the existing resource lies solely on commercial forestry lands well away from residential areas.

EGM’s experienced technical team, led by consultant geologist Aiden Lavelle, relogged all the previous drill core and undertook new geological mapping, sampling, and modelling (Fig. 2). This has given the team a better understanding of the controls on the REE mineralisation, and more importantly shown the district potential for major REE mineralisation. The initial 400m strike has already been expanded, exceeding 4km. With this knowledge, the company has expanded its land position ten-fold, acquiring the ~71km² Olserum 22 permit, which surrounds the original Olserum licence (Fig. 1). This gives EGM district-scale control of this rapidly emerging highly prospective REE region.

Fig. 2: Geological modelling at Olserum

Work on the mineralogy and beneficiation of the ore has shown the REEs are hosted by xenotime and monazite – both REE-bearing phosphates which have well-established processing pathways. In addition, Olserum has a large contribution of the high-value critical REEs dysprosium (Dy), yttrium (Y), neodymium (Nd), terbium (Tb) and praseodymium (Pr) – a unique advantage for its ultimate development as a REE mine. The Olserum composite sample’s beneficiation flowsheet involved grinding, wet low intensity magnetic separation for magnetite removal, and a single stage of roughing and two stages of cleaning for flotation of the target phosphate minerals. The mineralisation’s strong continuity, potential for high-grade (>1% TREO) shoots, and promising recoveries using standard process routes suggest that Olserum could become Europe’s first REE mine, with its full potential yet to be determined.

Hall said: “The excellent location and infrastructure (Fig. 3) of the Olserum deposit, along with available renewable power sources, add to our belief that this project will be a viable mining asset. We are planning infill drilling on the current resource area, to upgrade and expand the resource to Measured and Indicated status, and are undertaking further beneficiation testwork with GTK Mintek to increase recoveries from 80% to 85%. We have also started environmental baseline studies prior to drilling and will engage with and involve the local communities in our plans for the project.”

The next steps for the Olserum rare earth element project

The team has already initiated a defined development programme aimed at completing a bankable feasibility study to advance Olserum toward production. This is being enacted utilising EGM’s team, as well as dedicated consultants such as international consulting and engineering firm Geosyntec Consultants AB, which will undertake baseline environmental studies and deliver an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

The team is also lobbying for Olserum to be identified as a Strategic Project of European Interest, as defined in the EU Critical Raw Materials Act outlined in March 2023, to support fast-tracking the permitting process for the development of a mine. Additionally, as corporate end-users – including mineral processors, permanent magnet producers, EV battery suppliers, and automobile manufacturers – strive to ensure a stable stream of critical minerals, free from geopolitical constraints, the EGM team aims to forge partnerships with these entities through a collaborative co-development business model – one that is increasingly prevalent in the lithium sector, as highlighted by recent transactions. On a wider level, work at the new permit, Olserum 22, has yielded highly promising targets, which EGM aims to develop as it looks to deepen its understanding of the area and build a substantial REE resource inventory.

Fig. 3: Olserum location compared to local infrastructure

Pajala graphite potential: High-grade Swedish graphite

EGM’s mission of developing critical mineral projects in Europe for Europe is not limited to the Olserum rare earth element project. The company also owns the Pajala graphite project in northern Sweden, discovered while working through its proprietary in-house database of available, defined areas with known graphite occurrences. Graphite, while often overlooked, is another key constituent in the energy transition, representing over 25% of the mineral component of an EV battery.

Pajala comprises three granted concessions – Liviövaara 101, Lehtöslkä 101 and Lehtöslkä 102. Graphite in the area was initially defined in drilling by Sweden’s LKAB and, though only a few holes tested the horizon, combined with geophysics, a potential historic and non-compliant resource was outlined. The Liviövaara area has high-grade drill hole intercepts, including 4.7m grading 39.8% carbon (C) and 8.4m grading 29% C, values in line with Talga Group’s Vittangi project, which claims to be the highest-grade graphite in the world (19.4Mt grading 24% C). EGM plans to drill Pajala, aiming to twin the original holes then expand the drilling to rapidly define an initial resource. Large core will allow the company to undertake flake size distribution and purity to assess the quality of the graphite and the saleability of the product.

Elsewhere in Europe: The Saxony opportunity

In addition to Sweden, EGM is active in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) of Saxony, Germany, which is host to multiple occurrences of critical metals, such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, gallium, germanium and indium. These metals occur in various styles of mineralisation, including veins, skarns, and lithium greisens.

Saxony has a 1,000-year mining history and is currently experiencing advanced exploration primarily for lithium, tin, tungsten, silver, and fluorite. The area has excellent infrastructure, a year-round workable climate and respected academic institutions providing high-level access to research and staff. EGM currently has two projects: the 14km² Eichigt licence; and the 381km² Marienberg licence.

The Eichigt licence, prospective for Li-Co-Ni-Mn-REE has been the focus of EGM’s exploration in 2023 and has been advanced to drill-target stage. Rock sample results identified elevated levels of multiple critical elements and mineralised structures on a NW-SE trend. 1km of strike was identified with workings continuing for a total of 1.7km, and grades were extremely promising. This included lithium up to 0.23%, cobalt up to 0.82%, and nickel up to 0.18% ppm and REE values higher than expected, the highest TREO value of 1.26% with four other samples greater than 0.5%. The next stage for EGM is to drill test this large poly-critical metals system in the heart of Europe to define its economic potential.

The 381km² Marienberg licence area was historically an area that produced silver and tin but is also highly prospective for critical minerals. The EGM team believe that the encountered geological signatures make it a perfect addition to its portfolio and is currently initiating an extensive evaluation programme to understand its potential.

What does it all mean?

Achieving the energy transition demands a vast supply of critical minerals. Companies and governments must co-operate to boost production on a massive scale, with ESG principles at the forefront of mineral development. As well as stakeholder engagement, further education of the general public is required. Miners, such as EGM, are not the destructive demons many perceive, but responsible developers of critical minerals, without which there can be no net zero.

Projects, such as the Olserum rare earth element project, must be advanced. EGM has demonstrated the existence of critical mineral projects to progress within the European Union (EU) and others to explore and define. Industry names are eager to collaborate with EGM’s team. Now, EGM and the natural resource development sector need the backing of national and local governments to bring these promising projects to fruition.

August 29, 2023
Euro Sun Mining sells NSR royalty on its Rovina Valley project in Romania

Euro Sun Mining Inc (TSX:ESM, OTC:CPNFF) announced that it has entered into a net smelter return (NSR) royalty agreement with certain purchasers (holder) for its Rovina Valley project in Romania.

The resource exploration and development company said the holder has acquired a 1.0% NSR royalty for C$4.0 million, with C$2.0 million paid as of the date of the agreement and the remainder to be paid within nine months.

Euro Sun noted it has the right, on behalf of the holder, to sell the royalty to a third-party purchaser subject to minimum purchase prices by such third-party.

It added that should the company exercise the royalty sale right, it agrees to grant to the holder a 0.5% NSR royalty on all copper produced at the property.

As well, Euro Sun stated that in connection with the sale of the royalty, the company granted 32 million common share warrants to the holder, which shall vest only upon the company’s exercise of the royalty sale right.

Each warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional company common share at an exercise price of C$0.125 per share until August 25, 2028, representing a significant premium to the current market price of Euro Sun Mining’s common shares, according to the company.

Euro Sun Mining is a Toronto Stock Exchange listed mining company focused on the exploration and development of its 100%-owned Rovina Valley gold and copper project located in west-central Romania, which hosts the second-largest gold deposit in Europe.

Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com

August 29, 2023
Sweden to lift parliamentary ban on uranium mining

Sweden’s Climate Minister Romina Pourmokhtari has announced plans to lift the country’s ban on uranium mining and make way for greater nuclear energy capacity.

The Swedish Parliament has shown majority support for a lift on the ban, according to Pourmokhtari.

The government plans to build at least ten large reactors in the next 20 years to meet the demand for low-carbon energy. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told reporters in January that the government is “changing the legislation”, which will increase nuclear investment in the country.

Swedish ministers decided to phase out nuclear generation in 1980 and have historically taken an anti-nuclear stance. However, this policy was repealed in June 2010. Pourmokhtari is a public advocate of nuclear generation and says it should form a part of Sweden’s future energy mix.

“The government is aiming at doubling electricity production in 20 years,” Pourmokhtari told The Times this weekend.

“For our clean power system to function, a large part of this has to be dispatchable where nuclear power is the only non-fossil option. Nuclear power also has a reduced environmental footprint and requires limited resources in comparison with most energy sources.”

Uranium mining has become a point of concern for Europe’s nuclear industry as Russia dominates the processing of the fuel. Following the country’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the EU has sought to reduce its energy dependence on Moscow.

Kazakhstan, however, is by far the largest uranium miner. According to the World Nuclear Association, the country produced the largest share of mined uranium (43% of the global supply) in 2022, followed by Canada (15%) and Namibia (11%).

The European Parliament has been the site of heated debate over the role of nuclear generation in a net-zero future. France, which generates around 70% of its energy from nuclear sources, has been vocally pro-nuclear. Meanwhile, Germany, which has shut down its final three nuclear power stations this year, says that the fuel is not renewable.

Sweden accounts for 80% of the EU’s uranium deposits and already extracts uranium as a waste product when mining for other metals.

Several companies, including Australia’s Aura Energy and Canada’s District Metals, have already expressed interest in developing uranium sites in Sweden.

August 25, 2023
The place where no humans will tread for 100,000 years

In a few years, Finland will begin depositing spent nuclear fuel underground in Onkalo, where it will remain for millennia. Erika Benke describes her experience of visiting the site.

I’m always upbeat on the way to interviews. To me they’re the most enjoyable part of the storytelling process.

But this time I feel different. A tour at Onkalo, which lies 450m (1,480ft) below the ground, to see tunnels hewn in the living rock to store highly radioactive waste for 100,000 years, suddenly makes me nervous.

I’m about to visit the world’s first permanent storage site for spent nuclear fuel.

As I drive on a near-empty road in southwest Finland, I slow down trying to imagine what this picture-postcard Nordic countryside with huge pine trees would look like in 1,000 years. Or 10,000.

Will there be any people in the pretty houses dotted around Olkiluoto island? If so, will they speak Finnish? Will they use a language at all? And, most crucially, will they know about the potential danger lurking in the ground under their feet at Onkalo? (Read more about how to communicate a nuclear warning 10,000 years into the future.)

Spent fuel rods from nuclear power stations are currently kept in temporary storage facilities around the world.

Finland is the first country implementing what it hopes is a permanent solution. Starting in two or three years, highly radioactive waste will be buried deep in the bedrock at Onkalo, after being encased in cast-iron and copper cylinders and wrapped in bentonite clay.

I didn’t feel remotely anxious when I spoke to people at Onkalo on the phone. But I feel apprehensive now. It helps that our hosts from Posiva, the company running the site, show us a safety video first. I watch it with fellow visitors, two German TV crews.

The video hits a tone of sensible down-to-earth pragmatism. Don’t get separated from the group. In an emergency, follow your guide’s instructions. It’s an active construction site so watch out for vehicles and machines. If there’s a fire, follow your guide to the nearest shelter. The video shows a group of people calmly walking into a fire-proof pod with its own oxygen supply. Once inside, their guide hands everybody a bottle of water. It all looks very organised.

“Have you ever been in an emergency down there?”, I ask one of our guides, Johanna Hansen, research and development coordinator at Posiva.

“Only one, but it was a false alarm,” she replies with a smile.

I feel a moment of dread – I’m standing at a spot where, starting from 2025, no human should set foot for 100,000 years

Next we’re asked to don our safety gear: a bright yellow high-visibility jacket, waterproof boots, a helmet with a visor and a belt with a torch. We’re each handed a small pack containing an escape hood that will protect us from fire-related gases for 15 minutes. I’m relieved to hear that the helmets have a tracking device so people in the control room above the ground will always know where I am in the tunnels.

With that reassuring thought I walk through the turnstile at a security gate under the blazing midday sun and get into a car. Our guide drives into the service tunnel without hesitation. In a moment, everything turns very dark.

It takes 15 minutes to drive down to Onkalo’s service station which lies 437m (1,430ft) below the ground. As the 4.5km-long (2.8 mile) tunnel begins to snake down, we see a standard traffic sign for a 20km/h (12mph) speed limit. There are also green signs on the tunnel wall at regular intervals indicating how far we are from the surface.

No nuclear waste is yet stored at Onkalo – but it is an active building site so required Erika to don safety equipment (Credit: Erika Benke)

It’s a lot less scary than I thought it would be. I think what makes me relax is to see that we’re not alone. The tunnel is narrow – it’s for one vehicle – but when we pass a bay, we catch glimpses of trucks and cars. It’s like driving in a busy construction site, just set in a cave.

We arrive at the service station surprisingly quickly: a spacious, well-lit chamber with crushed stone underfoot. There’s a lot of heavy machinery and a row of large containers filled with construction materials. Two men standing on a cherry picker attached to harnesses are working on ventilation shafts in the ceiling. Two other workers are in conversation over containers surrounded by massive cables.

It feels oddly normal: people are going about their jobs as if they were in a factory above the ground. It’s a pleasant 14C (57F) and the air is clean: a ventilation system has been installed and there’s no smell of dust or moisture.

Our guides explain how nuclear waste canisters will arrive at the service area in a lift running straight down from the encapsulation plant on the surface. We can’t see the lift shaft – its construction is still underway. For now, it’s covered by a large door marked with two large red Xs.

When the spent fuel starts being stored here, canisters will be lowered from this lift landing area further down to a deposition tunnel where they’ll be picked up by robotic vehicles to take them to vertical deposition holes – their final resting places.

We’re shown a demonstration deposition tunnel. Its entrance is a lot darker than the service area and the floor is uneven and wet, muddy in places. The walls are bare bedrock that glints in the torchlight.

I realise that I’ve lost a small pink cable that connects my camera to the radio mic and I go back to find it. This is when I feel a moment of dread.

I’m alone in a dark tunnel where spent nuclear fuel will decay for millennia. I’m standing at a spot where, starting from 2025, no human should set foot for 100,000 years.

It brings home so clearly how brief our lives are. I fleetingly contemplate how minuscule a part of 100,000 years my own life is.

I find myself having a flashback from 30 years ago, skiing in the Alps, surrounded by fog so heavy that I didn’t know which way was up or down.

That was my first powerful glimpse of how fragile we are when facing the power of Earth. Onkalo’s bedrock has given me the second.

August 25, 2023
Can Poland dismantle the EU Green Deal with legal challenges?

For years, Poland’s right-wing government has been threatening to legally challenge the EU’s climate policy, and this summer it delivered on that threat. Climate and Environment Minister Anna Moskwa announced on 8 August the country has petitioned the European Court of Justice to strike down the recent revision to the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which is set to start levying a fee on climate-unfriendly imports on 1 October. Both are key components of the Fit for 55 package, the legislative toolbox designed to deliver on the goals of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s Green Deal.

“The introduction of CBAM fees will translate into an increase in the cost of imported products and electricity, as well as products manufactured in Poland for the end user,” Moskwa said in a statement. Regarding the ETS, Moskwa said Poland objects to the increase in allowances that will keep the price of carbon high, which “may reduce the level of energy security” of EU countries at a time when that security is being threatened by Russia.

The substance of the laws was decided by majority votes of EU countries earlier this year, in which opposition by Poland and Hungary was overcome. Poland is not only challenging the substance of the laws based on their effects, but also the way the laws were adopted. Because the laws will affect the economy, they are “primarily of a fiscal nature”, Moskwa said, and therefore the ordinary voting system should not have been used but rather a special legislative procedure which requires unanimous approval by all EU member states. Were the EU’s high court to agree, the laws could be invalidated and sent back to the Council for another vote, at which time Poland and Hungary would veto them.

Poland already challenged four other pillars of Fit for 55 earlier this summer: the ban on combustion engine car sales by 2035; the reduction of free allowances in the ETS; increased EU forest management; and the overall increase of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. Poland’s heavy use of coal and energy security concerns have made it the chief opponent of EU climate policy for two decades. They have tried and failed in the past to challenge EU climate policy with the high court. In 2016 they took the European Council and European Parliament to court for passing a law establishing a market stability reserve in the ETS to raise the price of carbon, which was drastically too low to be effective. They used the same argument – that the law needed to be decided by unanimity. This argument was rejected by the European Court of Justice.

Uphill battle

Legal experts say Poland’s chance of success at the European Court of Justice this time around is also not high – but there is a big question mark hovering over the CBAM legislation. “Such a justification, i.e. the protection of state interests presented as in the Polish government’s complaints, will not work – as confirmed by the court’s well-established previous jurisprudence in similar cases,” says Robert Grzeszczak, a professor of European law at the University of Warsaw.

“Besides, it’s a double-edged weapon. If Poland managed to challenge EU law on the grounds of its state interests, so could any other state challenge any other arbitrary act, precisely on the grounds of protecting national interests. This is not sufficient on its own, specific infringements must be demonstrated which would cause the act to be annulled by the court.” He adds that Poland’s argument that the wrong voting method was used is also unlikely to hold water with the court since it is specifically taxation that needs unanimity votes, not all fiscal policy.

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This is precisely why the Commission has been so insistent on not calling the levy a “carbon border tax” and rather using the cumbersome formulation of CBAM. A “tax” would have required unanimous approval, and the EU executive likely expected Poland to veto the proposal. That is what makes CBAM perhaps the most vulnerable of all the pieces of legislation challenged. If the high court were to rule it is in fact a tax and not an “adjustment mechanism”, it would be sent back to the Council, where Poland would kill it. Given that companies are already preparing for the start of the mechanism on 1 October, this could cause major disruption – especially if the court makes a ruling after CBAM has taken effect. A ruling before 1 October, or even by the end of the year, is unlikely.

“Based on similar actions, it can take two years or more for a judgment to be rendered and the contested rules are generally not suspended during that period,” consultancy Ernst & Young said in a note to clients. “The action could have significant impact on CBAM and the EU’s Green Deal in the medium-term. Withdrawal of the CBAM Regulation, in full or part, could jeopardise the EU Commission’s plans for the EU economic zone’s competitiveness among industries that are subject to ETS regulations.”

“Given the fast-approaching 31 January 2024 deadline for submitting the first CBAM report covering Q4 2023, businesses need to continue their efforts to prepare for their CBAM compliance obligations,” it added.

Climate of hostility

Although they do not believe Poland’s legal challenge will be successful, NGOs are warning that were the court to rule in Warsaw’s favour on CBAM, or the other pieces of legislation, it could cause the overall framework of the EU’s climate efforts to collapse. They say Poland is playing a dangerous political game.

“Warsaw’s blanket opposition towards major Fit for 55 regulations should be mainly understood in the context of the quickly approaching parliamentary elections [in Poland],” says Michał Smoleń, head of the energy and climate programme at the NGO Instrat. “Hostility towards more ambitious EU climate policies have unfortunately become just another topic for the competition between different right-wing factions, both inside and outside the ruling coalition.”

Read more from this author: Dave Keating

This exploitation of anti-climate-laws sentiment is not limited to Poland’s far-right government. Europe’s centre-right has also been flirting with such populist messages ahead of the EU and UK elections next year. And this comes while the EU this week lost its green champion, Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans. On Tuesday, Timmermans officially resigned his post to run to become prime minister of the Netherlands in the upcoming Dutch election. He will be replaced by Maroš Šefčovič, the EU commissioner from Slovakia.

Šefčovič, in charge of interinstitutional relations, has been a master at the art of compromise – the opposite of Timmermans’ sometimes hard-headed approach. Timmermans has been loathed by the Polish and Hungarian governments, and their domestic media, because of his actions against them for rule of law violations during the previous commission term of 2015–2019.

The more compromise-minded Šefčovič, a neighbour of Poland and Hungary, could find a way to defuse the situation and convince Poland to drop its legal challenges – perhaps after the Polish election is over. But some worry that, with Timmermans gone and President von der Leyen looking ahead to her prospects of re-appointment next year, the Commission is now more likely to back down and weaken the remaining elements of the Fit for 55 package amid pressure from Europe’s right.

It may be that Poland can succeed in at least partially dismantling the EU’s Green Deal without winning any of its legal challenges, simply by intimidating the EU executive against proposing and further ambitious legislation. Either way, these legal moves could have a major effect on the future of EU energy policy.

August 25, 2023
German industry slams burden of new EU carbon tariff

Meanwhile, analysis from consultancy Deloitte has revealed that many companies have failed to sufficiently perpare for the new rules, in these sectors and others.

European manufacturers have previously been able to count on emitting about half of their CO2 without incurring extra charges under the EU’s carbon price (ETS) to maintain their competitiveness vis-à-vis foreign products.

However, in 2021, the European Commission proposed to replace the free emissions rights with a protective carbon tariff – the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The scheme was ultimately adopted, to be gradually phased in from 2026.

Slowly, companies hoping to export their carbon-heavy products into Europe will have to pay up – incrementally matching the carbon avoidance costs of EU companies until 2032, when the scheme will take full effect.

Initially, only steel, iron, cement, aluminium, electricity, hydrogen, and fertiliser – goods whose production is associated with a big share of global CO2 emissions – will be affected by the tariff.

In mid-August, the Commission published the detailed reporting requirements that companies will have to comply with. The data gathering will have to start on 1 October this year and the first report is due for 31 January 2024, much to the dismay of Germany’s chemical industry.

Bureaucratic burden

“The bureaucratic madness caused by CBAM is unbelievable,” said Wolfgang Große Entrup, chief of the German chemical industry association VCI, on LinkedIn, adding that it is “necessary to draw attention to the new EU ‘climate protection instrument’” and called for European and German politicians to “wake up” to the policy’s impacts.

“CBAM should be the last resort,” said the industry association BDI, arguing that the threat of carbon levies should be used primarily to force foreign countries into compliance.

Various consultancies have chimed in, too. “Many companies will not manage to comply with all the new obligations as of October,” Stephan Freismuth, tax expert of the auditors KPMG, told German paper WamS.

As a consequence, penalties loom. Additionally, CBAM threatens to hit the German where it hurts most. Because of the CO2 levy on steel, “CBAM could contribute to making cars more expensive in the EU in the long run,” Freismuth said.

Foreign companies may also refuse to report their emissions in order to comply with the rules, precluding them from exporting to the EU – resulting in a loss of suppliers, he noted.

Deloitte, a competitor of KPMG, found a similar lack of preparedness among German firms.

“60% of decision-makers in companies that import the products in question from countries outside the EU are not familiar with CBAM,” the company reported, based on findings from a survey of 700 companies.

“Even if CBAM, with the corresponding financial implications, is not fully introduced until 2026, there is an acute need for action for many companies,” explained Michael Schäfer, a partner at Deloitte.

In order to align with the phase-in of CBAM, companies would have to get their carbon accounting up to speed in order to ensure their conformity with EU rules, he added.

August 24, 2023
Neometals joint venture to build battery shredding plant for Mercedes

Australia’s Neometals Ltd said on Wednesday that its battery recycling joint venture will build a battery shredding plant in southern Germany for Mercedes-Benz.

The deal by Primobius, which is 50% owned by Neometals and 50% by German engineering firm SMS Group, represents its first commercial recycling plant supply agreement to a global automaker, it said in a statement to the ASX.

Using Primobius technology, the plant will provide shredded battery material to the Mercedes LIB Recycling Plant, which will recover materials including lithium, cobalt, nickel and manganese.

This will be fed back into production of a targeted 50,000 battery modules for installation into new Mercedes vehicles.

Primobius will be responsible for the engineering, equipment supply and installation of the plant, the company said in a statement.

August 24, 2023
Turkish construction giant buys Ukrainian granite mining business
Turkish multinational Onur Group has acquired Rokytnivskyi Spetskaryer LLC, a Ukrainian company that mines granite, granodiorite and gabbro-diabase at the Rokytne deposit in Rivne Oblast, the company’s Facebook page reported on Aug. 22.

The project is a part of ONUR GROUP Mining & Quarrying.

According to the YouControl data monitoring platform, Onur Construction International LLC became sole owner of Rokytnivskyi Spetskaryer LLC in May 2023. Turkish nationals Ihsan and Onur Çetinceviz were later named as final beneficiaries.

The previous owners were Ihor Pastukh of Rokytne and Inna Samoylyk of Rivne.

Journalist outlet Nadra.info estimates Onur now controls a number of Ukrainian subsurface assets through acquired companies:
- Granite, granodiorite and gabbro-diabase: Rokytne deposit, Rivne Oblast – Rokytnivskyi Spetskaryer LLC (owners Ihsan and Onur Çetinceviz);
- Migmatites: Yunashkivske deposit, Vinnytsia Oblast – Yunashkivskyi Spetskaryer LLC (owner Onur Çetinceviz);
- Primary kaolin: Ivanivska area with Ivanivskyi occurrence, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast – Spys Ukraine LLC (owners Onur Çetinceviz and Murat Kavak);
- Primary kaolin: Myroliubivsko-Dniprovska area (north-eastern part), Dnipropetrovsk Oblast – Kopie Ukraina LLC;
- Primary kaolin, sand: Pavlivske deposit, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast – Kopie Ukraina LLC;
- Gold ores: Zhovtovodska area, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast – Kopie Ukraine LLC;
- Graphite: Horodnyavska area of Burtyn deposit, Khmelnytskyi Oblast – Kopie Ukraina LLC;
- Sand: Pivdenno-Trostyanetske deposit, Lviv Oblast – Agrobudservice LLC (owner Onur Çetinceviz).
August 24, 2023
UK to provide £192m loan guarantee to boost Ukraine nuclear capabilities

Energy secretary Grant Shapps has visited Ukraine to announce fresh financial support for its nuclear fuel supply in a bid to end its reliance on Russia.

The UK will provide a £192m loan guarantee to Ukraine’s national nuclear company, Energoatom via the UK’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance.

Through the deal, UK-headquartered Urenco will supply Energoatom with uranium enrichment services that are vital for nuclear fuel, with nuclear power generating over half of the country’s electricity.

The government hopes this will strengthen Ukraine’s energy security and help end the country’s dependence on nuclear services and nuclear fuel from Russia, as well as further isolate Vladmir Putin.

According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the new loan will take the UK’s non-military financial assistance to Ukraine close to £5bn.

On his visit to Ukraine, Mr Shapps met senior Ukrainian ministers and energy industry figures and visited a power station that is undergoing repairs after it was damaged by Russian bombing.

He also visited a children’s nursery attended by Nikita, the young son of the family he took in under the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme – where he played a recorded message from the boy.

August 24, 2023
PEJ Submits Location Decision Application For First Nuclear Power Plant

Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) has submitted an application to the government of the northern Pomerania province seeking a location decision for Poland’s first nuclear power plant.

The company said the move is “one of the most important steps” in the administrative process preceding the construction of a nuclear power plant. The proposed site lies within the Choczewo municipality in Pomerania.

The decision will give PEJ the rights to acquire necessary land both onshore and offshore for the project’s construction, the company said.

It will also outline the real estate to be covered by the investment and set forth conditions for implementation, including technical, environmental, conservation, and fire protection considerations.

In November 2022, Warsaw chose US-based Westinghouse Electric to supply its AP1000 reactor technology for a three-unit nuclear power station at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the municipality of Choczewo near the Baltic coast of Pomerania.

The first AP1000 unit is expected online in 2033 with others planned to follow into the 2040s.

Several other crucial administrative requirements have already been completed, including a decision-in-principle from the ministry of climate and environment affirming the project’s alignment with state energy policies, and a general opinion confirming the validity of safety analysis verification conducted by the national atomic energy agency. The process to obtain a decision on environmental conditions is also at an advanced stage.

Nuclear new-build plans are a central part of Poland’s drive to fundamentally realign its energy sector by 2040. The venture is one of Poland’s most significant public works projects ever and will provide both energy security and support for a growing economy.

August 23, 2023