The geopolitical race for critical raw materials in the green transition era has emphasized the critical importance of securing raw materials for the green transition, recognizing the challenges it faces in competition with China. However, convincing companies to prioritize geopolitical concerns over market dynamics presents a significant hurdle. While electric vehicles offer a cleaner alternative to fossil fuel vehicles, their production involves a considerable amount of materials. Compared to conventional vehicles, electric cars require a much larger quantity of minerals, such as copper and manganese. The increasing adoption of clean energy technologies, especially electric vehicles, has led to a surge in demand for critical raw materials (CRMs). This heightened demand underscores the need for a stable supply chain to support Europe’s transition to green technologies. The European Union identifies certain materials as “critical raw materials,” crucial for various sectors beyond clean energy, including digitalization and defense. However, dependence on external sources, particularly China, raises concerns about supply chain security. China’s dominance in processing many CRMs, despite not being rich in these resources, poses challenges for the EU. Chinese mining companies have made significant investments overseas, controlling key mining operations in regions like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. In response to these challenges, the EU has implemented initiatives such as the European Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) and strategic partnerships with producer countries. These efforts aim to secure the EU’s CRM supply while promoting sustainable development in partner nations. The CRMA emphasizes supply chain security but also faces criticism for prioritizing mining projects over sustainability. Achieving a balance between security and sustainability is crucial for ensuring a resilient supply chain. Despite the EU’s emphasis on strategic partnerships and free trade agreements, challenges remain in translating rhetoric into action. Building domestic supply chains for green energy technologies requires significant investment and private sector involvement. However, crashing prices of key minerals like lithium and cobalt have stalled Western investments in new mines. Chinese companies, benefiting from state support, are better positioned to weather market fluctuations. The EU’s approach to competing with China in the CRM sector must address these challenges effectively. Balancing economic interests, sustainability goals, and supply chain security will be essential for the EU to establish resilient CRM supply chains and maintain its competitiveness in the global market.
Tag: Critical Raw Materials Act
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EU’s First Battery-Grade Lithium Mine: Critical Metals Leads the Way
Critical Metals, a newly established company, is set to construct the European Union’s first battery-grade lithium mine, the Wolfsberg Lithium Project, located in Austria. The project is expected to become a significant source of battery-grade lithium concentrate, filling a critical gap in the European electric vehicle (EV) battery supply chain. The mine is uniquely positioned to capitalize on its location in the heart of the EV supply chain, minimizing environmental impact by repurposing a former Austrian government-constructed lithium mine containing a substantial amount of battery-grade lithium. Furthermore, European Lithium has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a key customer arrangement with BMW AG, potentially creating one of the largest direct pre-pays from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in Europe’s lithium mining industry. A definitive feasibility study is expected in early 2023, aiming to supply lithium concentrate at a commercial scale and be economically viable.
The European Union has set targets to dig up, recycle, and refine lithium, cobalt, and other metals it needs for its green transition. However, the bloc faces challenges in achieving these goals due to a shortage of new money, high energy costs, and local opposition. The Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), due to enter force in early 2024, aims to reduce the EU’s reliance on China, which dominates global mineral processing and has already threatened EU supply with export curbs. The CRMA aims to speed up the granting of project permits, but other obstacles remain, such as the need for cheaper energy and EU financing.
Several European lithium mining and refining projects are poised to launch commercial operations next year, supported by a push among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to regionalize their battery supply chains and reduce dependence on imported material. Based on existing plans, Europe’s annual lithium processing capacity is set to reach approximately 650,000 mt/year by 2028, with more than 20 projects currently advancing their mining and refining operations toward full-scale commercial production. The growth of Europe’s domestic lithium industry comes amid growing concern about an impending global shortfall in the supply of graphite, copper, cobalt, and nickel.
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Sustainable raw materials for green technologies
Euromines President invited European Institutions and Automotive sector to jointly assess the realities of supply of raw materials to European manufacturers. His two statements summarize the past decade approach to raw materials in the EU: “For years Europe was far too complacent in outsourcing pollution – and receiving raw materials for our consumption in return” – and yet “Nowhere else mining is happening at such a high level of environmental protection as in Europe”.
From the rare earth crisis in the beginning of the 2000s, to the magnesium, gallium and germanium graphite crunch today – the intervals demonstrating European vulnerabilities are becoming shorter. The resulting dependency creates pressure on political leadership in the EU. European Institutions seem to have acknowledged this threat to competitiveness of the European industry. After all, the same materials are critical to achieving Green Deal made in Europe with or values, industry and society. Only by including all these aspects the green transformation can be a successful role model to copy for other countries.
In 1957, European leaders had the incredible foresight to make war economically impossible and eventually unthinkable. At the heart of it: integrating the production of raw materials across borders of countries, obliging them to work together. Across various economic crises, Europe calibrated a systemic prosperity and comfort by trading, finding allies and ensuring access to energy and non-energy commodities.
Today EU faces yet another challenge: climate change and the required energy, consumption and production transition, shift the rules of the game to a new level of fierce competition. War has returned to Europe, and it is not a given that allies and rivals alike step in for what Europe decided to outsource. Such increasing exposure is a serious to our prosperity and innovation power to find answers to the gargantuan task of tackling climate change.
ESG and geopolitical imperatives while maintaining prosperity will depend on a commodity transition: metals and minerals will fuel the planet. The demand increase for metals needed for goods such as e-vehicles and the infrastructure to make this work will be enormous – we cannot even fathom it. This requires bold steps in how we treat and use raw materials: not just specific in form of applications or technologies but systemic across value chains. After all, the sustainability impact of driving an e-vehicle depends on the sustainability performance of the raw materials it is made of.
European mining emerges as a strategic linchpin for autonomy in green, digital, and defence sectors. It can provide the raw materials needed to make a wind turbine run and a battery to store this electricity, but also serve as a benchmark for ESG standards for imported materials.
Europe is not alone.
The EU’s Green Deal is not the only sustainability transition policy – the race for raw materials will intensify even more, scrambling to get access to the most promising deposits. Control over extraction rights and refining capacity will be the defining geopolitical challenge for the decades to come. Europe needs to reckon with this on three accounts:
Utilize Europe’s Resources: Europe must tap into its promising deposits for critical and strategic materials, utilizing the knowledge and expertise of EU mining companies with minimal environmental impact.
Build Sustainable Partnerships: Outsourcing to areas with lower regulatory requirements is not an option. Europe must engage in partnerships with allies willing to uphold high standards in environmental, social, and governance issues.
Circular Economy Integration: Beyond recycling, integrating mining into the Circular Economy concept can minimize primary raw material extraction for other sectors.
Redefining Raw Material Approaches.Raw materials should no longer be considered merely a procurement issue. Confirming this disparity in approaches is the fact that for many sectors, supply of raw materials is sixth or seventh tier on their demand list. Yet, without securing the premium for the ESG criteria in sourcing them, the rift between downstream manufacturing and upstream mining companies will continue to render supply chains fragile, prone to disruptions and impede sustainability and human rights standards.
Extraction, refining, and manufacturing need to compete on more than “just-in-time” and cheapest prices. This behaviour change is a catalyst to do more in a sustainable way and be honest in how we source and procure raw materials to fulfil our own sustainability ambitions.
Sustainability is not an externality.
Internalizing high production standards in upstream and security of supply externalities in downstream industries must go hand in hand to recognize costs and benefits of a sustainable raw materials extraction. Mining as the base of many Green Deal objectives – if done right – decarbonizes entire value chains. LKAB’s pellets are 7 times less CO2-intensive than sinter production and key for decarbonized steel production. Boliden’s Aitik and Kevitsa mines are prime examples of mine electrification -providing low-carbon copper and zinc that are needed for electrification through increased deployment of fossil free electricity.
The EU raw materials mining industry has all the elements ready – from deposits, environmentally friendly extraction processes to a world-class R&D ambition to further reduce the impact of mining and providing critical and strategic raw materials. To make this happen Europe must act now! The Critical Raw Materials Act is a paradigm shift politically recognizing the benefits of our own backyard. The momentum initiated with the CRM Act must not be slowed down. There is a lot to do if we are serious about our role in the global green transition – starting with the production of our daily-life consumption.
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Council and Parliament strike provisional deal to reinforce the supply of critical raw materials
The political agreement reached today keeps the overall objectives of the original proposal but strengthens several elements. It includes aluminium in the list of strategic and critical materials, reinforces the benchmark of recycling, clarifies the permitting procedure for strategic projects, and requires relevant companies to perform a supply-chain risk assessment on their sourcing of strategic raw materials.
Ensuring the supply of raw materials locally and globally
The Commission’s proposed regulation establishes a list of 34 critical raw materials (including 16 strategic ones) and sets targets to increase the EU contribution of these substances (10% for the extraction; 40% for the processing and 15% for the recycling). To achieve this, the proposal called for a quick and simplified permit procedure for strategic extracting projects, to be dealt by a single national contact point. It also called for risk analysis of possible dependencies, member states’ exploration plans, higher investment in research, innovation and skills; and protection of the environment by promoting the circularity and sustainability of raw materials.
On the global stage, the regulation identified measures to diversify imports of critical raw materials ensuring that not more than 65% of the Union’s consumption of each strategic raw material comes from a single third country.
Main elements of the agreement
The provisional agreement adds one critical raw material (aluminium) to the list of strategic raw materials (hence, 34 critical raw materials and 17 strategic raw materials). The compromise text also considers that in addition to the natural graphite (which already in the list) the synthetic graphite will also be a strategic raw material during a period of three years, until the Commission makes the first revision of the list.
Furthermore, the agreement allows that projects able to produce innovative raw materials that substitute strategic raw materials in relevant technologies can be candidates to become strategic projects
Member states will have the possibility to object on whether a project will be developed on their territories.
Realistic benchmarks
The provisional agreement keeps the benchmarks of 10% for extraction of raw materials and 40% for processing but increases the benchmark for recycling to at least 25% of EU’s annual consumption of raw materials. In addition, there should be substantial increase on the recovery of raw materials present in waste.
Promoting technologies to moderate consumption
The co-legislators propose that 18 months after the entry into force of the regulation, the Commission shall present a report on the estimated consumption of each critical raw material for the next three decades.
Points of single contact
According to the different administrative systems of each country, member states will be able to designate one or several single contact points, at the level they decide (local, regional or national) and the different stages of the value chain (mining, processing, recycling). Promoters of strategic projects will have a “relevant administrative unit” in these points of single contact who will facilitate the permit granting process for the project.
Permitting procedure
The provisional compromise also unifies the timings of the permit procedure. The total duration of the permit granting process should not exceed 27 months for extraction projects and 15 months for processing and recycling projects. While the first step of the environmental impact assessment (the production of the report, which must be conducted by the project promoter) will be not included in the time-line for the project approval, the public consultation needed for an environmental impact assessment will be part of the total duration of the permit process.
Company risk preparedness
Large companies exposed to shortages of strategic raw materials in strategic technologies (i.e. battery manufacturers, hydrogen producers, renewable energy generators, data transmission and storage, or aircraft production) will have to regularly carry out a risk assessment of their supply chain of strategic raw materials, which they may present to their board of directors, mapping where the materials come from, what can affect their supply and what are the vulnerabilities to supply disruptions.
Background
The Critical Raw Material Act, together with the Net Zero Industry Act and the Reform of the electricity market design is one of the flagship legislative initiatives of the Green Deal Industrial Plan that the Commission presented on 1st February 2023. The three were presented as a package on 16th March. The Council adopted the negotiation mandate on 30th of June.
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Euro Sun Mining sees Romania copper project benefitting from EU’s critical materials deal
Euro Sun Mining Inc (TSX:ESM, OTC:CPNFF) has welcomed the announcement that the European Parliament and Council have reached an agreement on the Critical Raw Materials Act, in particular, that the act recognizes copper as both a strategic and critical raw material.
The act aims to increase the European Union’s domestic capacities for critical raw materials by identifying, streamlining and facilitating access to finance for strategic projects.
It lists 34 critical raw materials and sets targets to increase the EU’s contribution of these substances being 10% for extraction, 40% for processing and 15% for recycling.
The act is provisional, pending final approval by the European Parliament and Council.
“We welcome the passing of the act and applaud the EU’s recognition of the importance of increasing domestic production of critical materials, in particular copper,” Euro Sun CEO Grant Sboros said.
“Euro Sun believes the Rovina Valley project is a perfect candidate for the act given that it is situated in Romania and its sizable copper deposits. We look forward to working with the government of Romania to streamline the permitting and financing of the Rovina Valley project under the act.”
Euro Sun 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.
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Parliament Takes Action to Strengthen the EU’s Focus on ‘Strategic Projects’ in Critical Minerals Sector
The political groups within the European Parliament are pushing to enhance social and environmental safeguards for “strategic” mining projects in Europe and abroad as the EU seeks to secure vital raw materials for its green and digital transitions.
The Parliament’s industry committee is set to vote on the EU’s draft Critical Raw Materials Act, which aims to reduce the bloc’s reliance on China and other countries for metals like rare earths.
The proposal, unveiled in March by the European Commission, outlines benchmarks to increase domestic capacity for raw materials extraction, processing, and recycling. The aspirational targets correspond to 10%, 40%, and 15% of the EU’s needs, respectively.
EU member states voted in June to raise the Commission’s proposed benchmark for processing on European soil from 40% to 50%. Lawmakers in the Parliament’s industry committee support this 50% objective but have added an international dimension. They suggest that “up to 20% of the Union’s new processing capacity” could be developed through “strategic partnerships” with foreign countries.
These partnerships would be facilitated through “strategic projects” that receive expedited permitting rules and access to finance. However, they would also face closer scrutiny regarding environmental and social safeguards.
These moves have been praised by green campaign group Transport and Environment (T&E), which sees the establishment of safeguards as more important than voluntary targets. Julia Poliscanova, Senior Director at T&E, emphasized that these safeguards would ensure that environmental and social standards are met.
Strategic projects can encompass all stages of the raw materials supply chain, from mining to processing and recycling. They must be mutually beneficial for both the EU and the host country, according to the draft Parliament report.
The EU is currently in discussions with Chile to establish a strategic partnership on raw materials as part of a broader EU-Chile trade agreement. This partnership could facilitate the EU’s access to Chile’s significant lithium reserves.
The draft parliamentary report, authored by Nicola Beer, a centrist lawmaker from Germany’s liberal FDP party, underscores the need for diversifying raw materials supplies as a priority in the EU’s external action and diplomacy.
The European Parliament is also considering stricter sustainability requirements for critical raw material projects. This includes imposing more stringent conditions for EU-wide recognition of industry certification schemes. These schemes will need to have multi-stakeholder governance systems in place to qualify. Compliance with EU certification standards will be verified at the site level rather than the company level.
These certification amendments have broad cross-party support and are expected to pass. However, the fate of other aspects of the draft, such as stress tests for large companies and funding for self-sufficiency targets, remains uncertain.
After the industry committee vote, the draft Critical Raw Materials Act is expected to be voted on in the European Parliament’s plenary session on September 11. This will initiate negotiations with EU member states to finalize the law.
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Explained: The EU’s handicap in the global race for critical raw materials
The EU is highly dependent on third countries for the raw materials needed to engineer its energy transition and digital transformation.
Russia’s war in Ukraine and the need to wean itself off fossil fuels in order to reach climate targets have prompted the EU to accelerate its green transition in recent months but also forced it to acknowledge its dependencies over access to critical raw materials.
In the global race for raw materials, the EU faces multiple challenges.
The first one is China, which recently started restricting exports of gallium and germanium, two metals essential for the production of semiconductors, in response to Western curbs on Beijing’s access to micro-processing technology.
The EU considers both materials of high strategic importance. As well as semiconductors and other electronic devices, they are used for military applications such as missile defence and radar systems.
Beijing’s restrictions come as a stark warning as the EU attempts to diversify and boost domestic supply of raw materials to reduce dependency on third countries.
Reliance on ‘low-governance’ countries
But diversifying supply chains could mean the EU has to source these materials from countries that don’t adhere to the same standards.
Recent data suggests the EU’s supply is highly dependent on countries that have a low governance level, based on indicators including political stability, rule of law and corruption control.
The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), adopted in March this year, stipulates that EU strategic projects to scale up supply must be assessed taking into account all aspects of sustainability, including environmental protection, socially responsible practices and respect for human rights such as the rights of women.
But many countries feeding EU supply are not aligned with European values. This raises concerns about the impact on the local communities where materials are mined, as well as the potential exploitation of natural resources.
For example, the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose governance indicators are among the lowest in the world, supplies 63% of the EU’s cobalt, which is essential for manufacturing batteries for electrical vehicles.
Diversifying supply a challenge
The EU is also highly dependent on single countries for key materials such as Magnesium (China, 97%), Lithium (Chile, 97%), Iridium (South Africa, 93%) and Niobium (Brazil, 92%). These dependencies make supply chains vulnerable.
The Critical Raw Materials Act aims to ensure no third country provides more than 65% of the Union’s annual consumption of any raw material.
But diversifying supply is complex when refineries of many essential materials are monopolised by one or more global powers. China dominates the refining market for many critical raw materials.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing energy crisis has shown the acute dangers of over-reliance for supplies of raw materials. China’s increasingly antagonistic stance and the political instability in many African countries have also served as reminders of the fragility of the EU’s trading relationships.
A spiralling global demand
The demand for raw materials is growing steeply, as developed countries race to digitalise and decarbonise their economies. This can only happen with sufficient supply of raw materials, meaning countries must scale up extracting, refining and recycling operations.
The global demand for lithium, for example, is set to increase a staggering 89-fold by 2050, according to the European Commission. Demand for gallium will multiply 17-fold during the same time.
The Critical Raw Materials Act sets targets for the Union to extract 10%, process 40% and recycle 15% of its annual consumption of raw materials by 2030.
To meet these targets and compete on the global stage, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU needs to speed up investments in research and development, recognising that the bloc’s global share of R&D expenditure has fallen 10% in the last 20 years.
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Mineral-rich African states to explore new markets after EU changes its buying rules
The European Union, the world’s largest single market, has introduced new measures to reduce their “dependency” on mineral imports from outside the bloc.
The European Council adopted the Critical Raw Materials Act on June 30, a regulation that seeks to utilise the bloc’s Common Market and partnerships to “diversify critical raw material supply chains, which currently rely on imports from a handful of third countries.”
A spokesperson of the European Commission told The EastAfrican that the bloc has taken this route because of the lessons they have learnt from the recent supply-chain disruptions that significantly impacted their supply and consequently costs of products associated with the raw materials.
“The urgency of such measures is made clear by the recent Covid-related supply disruptions, Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, disrupting, for example, nickel and titanium markets, and the Chinese export restrictions on gallium and germanium introduced last week,” the spokesperson said.
Under the new regulations, EU will source up to 65 percent of its annual consumption of critical and strategic raw materials from within the bloc, dealing a blow to countries in the region that have been exporting to the region.
At least 10 percent of the minerals used in the bloc will now be extracted from countries in the union, 40 percent will come from processing, and 15 percent will come from domestic recycling of the critical and strategic minerals.
According to the spokesperson, domestic extraction of the minerals in the EU has been low due to a number of factors, including “long permitting procedures, local opposition, high energy costs, high labour costs, and high costs of regulatory compliance.”
The Act now seeks to address most of these hurdles.
“By prioritising strategic projects and setting binding timelines, domestic extraction projects should be approved more quickly; by requiring companies to engage with local communities, social acceptance should be improved, and by promoting supply diversification by private businesses, EU projects should be able to become competitive despite higher production costs,” the spokesperson told The EastAfrican.
The Act also seeks to spur recycling of the critical raw materials by addressing the key barriers to that, which include the lack of awareness by users on when recyclable products have come to their end of life and higher costs associated with products made from recycled raw materials.
Ebba Busch, Minister for Energy, Business, and Industry of Sweden – the current President of the EU – said with the Act, the EU will gain the much-needed freedom in the exploration and supply of critical raw materials and will no longer have to depend on any countries outside the bloc.
“When it comes to raw materials, Europe’s destiny is mainly in the hands of a few third countries,” she said.
“With the Raw Materials Act, we want to recover our autonomy in a truly European way: extracting our minerals sustainably; recycling as much as we can and working in partnership with like-minded third countries to promote their development and sustainability, while ensuring our supply chains.”
Critical to manufacturing
The list of 34 critical and 17 strategic raw materials that will be affected by the new regulations includes copper, cobalt, titanium, manganese, natural graphite, platinum group metals, nickel, tantalum, vanadium and niobium.
The minerals are crucial in the manufacture of electric vehicles’ batteries, wind turbines, solar photovoltaic systems, aircraft and spacecraft parts, laptop and mobile phone parts.
They are crucial export commodities, providing foreign exchange needed for importation of other goods and services and debt repayment, and source of employment for millions of people in the region.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, copper and cobalt and their related products account for about 93 percent of their annual exports, majority of which goes to China and Europe, making the extractive sector the primary source of foreign exchange in the country.
According to the World Bank, DRC’s exports to Europe stood at $992,105 in 2020, coming after the country’s exports to Sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia, where China – Kinshasa’s largest export market – is.
With about half a million people in the DRC directly employed in the mining industry, the loss of the European market as an export destination could lead to massive job losses, in addition to a drop in forex, which is crucial for imports.
Tanzania also earns a significant amount of foreign exchange from these raw materials and has the European Union as a key export market. World Bank estimates that Dar’s exports of minerals, excluding gold, silver and diamond, amounted to $562,735 in 2020, making it their third-leading export.
Some of the minerals Tanzania exports include nickel, graphite, coal, and uranium, which have also been affected by the new regulations. Data firm Statista estimates that Dar’s mining sector employs some 310,000 people, who might be affected by the EU move.
Ambitious goals
As Europe is Dar’s second largest export market after Sub-Saharan Africa, the plan to reduce mineral imports from outside the bloc could significantly affect their foreign exchange earnings.
Kenya might also be affected by the changes, should they trickle down to African mineral exporters. Minerals and metals account for about 8.9 percent of Kenya’s exports, with the main one being titanium ores, which contributed $156,804 of foreign exchange in 2020, according to the World Bank.
Rwanda and Burundi may also be significantly affected by the EU’s change in regulations, as mineral exports account for about 12 percent of their individual total exports. Kigali and Bujumbura are exporters of niobium, tantalum and vanadium ores.
In Uganda, the mining sector, other than gold mining, is a small performer, accounting for just about 4.5 percent of exports, having brought in $185,238 in 2020, based on World Bank’s statistics.
Patrick Kanyoro, Chairman of the Kenya Chamber of Mines, a Nairobi-based lobby group for the mining sector, however, believes that the new regulations in Europe will not have a “serious impact” on the revenues from Africa’s extractive industry and on jobs in the sector.
Continental free trade
“I do not think this will have any major impact on mining in Africa in the next ten years. Even if they reduce their demand, we will still have other markets, particularly under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area,” Dr Kanyoro told The EastAfrican.
According to him, the plan to source at least 15 percent of critical minerals used in Europe from recycling is “quite ambitious” and may not be met in the next ten years, hence they will continue relying on raw materials imported from other countries.
Besides spurring intra-African trade, Dr Kanyoro says should EU’s demand for African minerals fall as projected, it will also encourage industrialisation on the continent, to have the raw materials processed here, which will still be a win for Africa and will safeguard jobs.
“The truth is, the EU is not buying much of our minerals, but even if that were to drop, we will focus on selling to Asia and on industrialising our countries and we will still be good to go regardless,” he said.
China is currently the leading buyer of African minerals and most of the manufacturing in the Asian economic giant relies on raw materials drawn from the DRC and other African countries.
In most mineral-rich African countries, Beijing is among the leading single country export market, if not the leading, as is the case in Kinshasa.
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EU already late for its 2030 raw materials targets, French experts warn
Even if new mines were to be opened in the European Union today, experts in the French mining sector say it would be very difficult to achieve the EU objectives for extracting critical and strategic raw materials by 2030.
Read the original French article here.
To achieve its energy and climate goals, the European Union will need to electrify on a massive scale, which in turn, will require more raw materials for the manufacture of electricity-generating and storage equipment such as batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.
To this end, the European Commission presented its proposal in mid-March for a Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), with a view to advancing the EU’s energy and ecological transition.
Under it, EU countries must ensure that 10% of the extraction, 40% of the refining and 15% of the recycling of several dozen raw materials takes place on home turf by 2030.
On top of that, the Commission proposes the EU should no longer be more than 65% dependent on a single non-EU country for a single raw material – a difficult task given to what extent the EU currently depends on imported minerals, notably from China, which accounts for up to 90% of the value chain for certain materials.
Those targets have been at the centre of the debate ever since, with some lawmakers in the European Parliament opposed to their introduction and some EU countries like France and Germany prefering targets for individual minerals.
“It would be absurd to set the same targets for cobalt, 80% of whose reserves are located in a single African country, as for lithium, for example, which can be mined in Europe,” explained French Industry Minister Roland Lescure.
Unexplored subsoils
The French mining industry also supports the idea of introducing sector-specific targets for individual raw materials, saying Europe “lacks sufficient production capacity and time to implement them” for certain metals listed in the CRMA, explained Christophe Poinssot, deputy director general of the French geological and mining research bureau.
But beyond the difficulties of supplying certain minerals domestically, Poinssot also pointed to data gaps due to an unexplored geological potential in Europe.
In France, “knowledge of subsoil resources is extremely patchy and covers only part of the country,” Poinssot said at a conference organised by the right-wing Les Républicains party in early July.
“The inventory carried out 40 years ago was for a long time limited to the first 100 metres underground,” he explained.
Resources in Europe’s subsoil could even be exported, the researcher also said.
Norway, for example, recently discovered a phosphate deposit that could supply a considerable proportion of the EU’s needs. At the beginning of January, Sweden also announced the discovery a major deposit of rare earth oxides.
Under these conditions, “we need to reinvest in learning more about our subsoil and reopening mines. To do this, we need to relaunch an inventory of the mineral resources present in all 27 EU member states,” Poinssot argues.
Even if new mines were to be opened in the European Union today, experts in the French mining sector say it would be very difficult to achieve the EU objectives for extracting critical and strategic raw materials by 2030.
Read the original French article here.
To achieve its energy and climate goals, the European Union will need to electrify on a massive scale, which in turn, will require more raw materials for the manufacture of electricity-generating and storage equipment such as batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.
To this end, the European Commission presented its proposal in mid-March for a Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), with a view to advancing the EU’s energy and ecological transition.
Under it, EU countries must ensure that 10% of the extraction, 40% of the refining and 15% of the recycling of several dozen raw materials takes place on home turf by 2030.
On top of that, the Commission proposes the EU should no longer be more than 65% dependent on a single non-EU country for a single raw material – a difficult task given to what extent the EU currently depends on imported minerals, notably from China, which accounts for up to 90% of the value chain for certain materials.
Those targets have been at the centre of the debate ever since, with some lawmakers in the European Parliament opposed to their introduction and some EU countries like France and Germany prefering targets for individual minerals.
“It would be absurd to set the same targets for cobalt, 80% of whose reserves are located in a single African country, as for lithium, for example, which can be mined in Europe,” explained French Industry Minister Roland Lescure.
Unexplored subsoils
The French mining industry also supports the idea of introducing sector-specific targets for individual raw materials, saying Europe “lacks sufficient production capacity and time to implement them” for certain metals listed in the CRMA, explained Christophe Poinssot, deputy director general of the French geological and mining research bureau.
But beyond the difficulties of supplying certain minerals domestically, Poinssot also pointed to data gaps due to an unexplored geological potential in Europe.
In France, “knowledge of subsoil resources is extremely patchy and covers only part of the country,” Poinssot said at a conference organised by the right-wing Les Républicains party in early July.
“The inventory carried out 40 years ago was for a long time limited to the first 100 metres underground,” he explained.
Resources in Europe’s subsoil could even be exported, the researcher also said.
Norway, for example, recently discovered a phosphate deposit that could supply a considerable proportion of the EU’s needs. At the beginning of January, Sweden also announced the discovery a major deposit of rare earth oxides.
Under these conditions, “we need to reinvest in learning more about our subsoil and reopening mines. To do this, we need to relaunch an inventory of the mineral resources present in all 27 EU member states,” Poinssot argues.
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Euromines Advocates for Responsible and Sustainable Mining at Renew CRMA Event
Euromines, the European Association of Mining Industries, Metal Ores & Industrial Minerals, emphasised the importance of responsible and sustainable mining, as thecornerstone of achieving Europe’s strategic autonomy in critical raw materials and fostering a competitive transformation aligned with the Green Deal.
The Importance of Mining in the Green Deal
Euromines presented three critical points during the event: firstly, the importance of the mining industry in the Green Deal’s industrial transition. As the demand for metals and minerals for green technologies increases, secure access and supply become essential, necessitating more mining activities within the EU.
Responsible Mining Practices and Sustainability
Secondly, Euromines called for an honest debate about responsible mining practices, emphasising the need to distinguish between responsible mining in the EU and practices in third countries with weaker environmental standards. To achieve the EU’s green transition, it is vital to recognize and elevate the sustainability performance of EU mining.
Policy Coherence and Competitive Transformation in Mining
Thirdly, Euromines urged to support the mining sector in reducing its environmental footprint. While the industry invests heavily in sustainability measures, it requires regulatory recognition and enabling conditions to do more and better. Regulatory coherence and a clear interlinkage between the Net Zero Industry Act, Critical Raw Materials Act, decarbonization, and environmental legislation are crucial for the predictability and viability of mining projects.
Challenges Faced by the EU Mining Industry
To ensure the success of the Green Deal, Euromines called for a responsible raw materials policy framework that balances the EU raw materials security of supply, global net-positive impact and environmental protection. The emphasis should be given to resolving conflicting objectives and provide incentives for responsible mining practices.
Importantly, all speakers agreed with the need to address the European approach to permitting industrial projects. While environmental protection remains the guiding principle for any consideration, there is a lot to improve in the system including on digitalisation, providing one-stop-shop, and certainly on timing.
Euromines remains committed to fostering responsible and sustainable mining practices and looks forward to continued collaboration with policymakers and stakeholders in shaping Europe’s green transformation.