MINEX Forum

Tag: European critical minerals

  • Energy Transition Minerals Secures Final Approval to Revive Penouta Mine as EU’s Only Domestic Tantalum and Niobium Source

    Energy Transition Minerals Secures Final Approval to Revive Penouta Mine as EU’s Only Domestic Tantalum and Niobium Source

    Energy Transition Minerals has secured the final regional approval needed to take over the Penouta tin, tantalum and niobium mine in Galicia, Spain, moving a step closer to making it the European Union’s only domestic primary source of two critical raw materials that Europe currently imports almost entirely from overseas.

    The Xunta de Galicia has authorised the transfer of the Section C mining concession at the Penouta mine in Viana do Bolo, Ourense, to ETM’s Spanish subsidiary, formally recognising the company as the incoming holder of mining rights. The approval is the final regional step in ETM’s rescue of the project from the insolvency of previous operator Strategic Minerals Spain, which collapsed in 2024 and halted production.

    The strategic significance is considerable. Europe mines almost none of the metals Penouta produces. Over 80% of the world’s niobium comes from Brazil, most tantalum is mined in the DRC and Rwanda, and critical minerals processing is dominated by China. Tantalum prices have reached multi-decade highs this year following supply disruption in central Africa. Both tantalum and niobium are designated critical raw materials by the EU, the US and Australia, with applications across semiconductors, capacitors, high-performance aerospace and defence alloys, and energy transition technologies.

    Penouta retains its open-pit mine, a processing plant tailored to its ore type and supporting infrastructure representing a historical investment of approximately €28 million. The site covers 282 hectares and holds certified measured and indicated resources of more than 76 million tonnes under NI 43-101 standards. Mineral resources in the area were exploited from the early 20th century through the 1980s, with exploration reactivated in 2011 by Strategic Minerals Spain.

    ETM has signed a memorandum of understanding with commodity trader Traxys for offtake of concentrate from the mine. Managing director Daniel Mamadou said the company intends to reactivate Penouta responsibly, retaining experienced local staff, prioritising local hiring and working closely with the Viana do Bolo municipal council. “Europe has spent years talking about reducing its dependence on a handful of distant suppliers for the metals its industries cannot do without. Penouta is one of the few places on the continent where that ambition can actually be met — and met soon,” he said.

    The Penouta news comes the same week that Greenland formally rejected ETM’s application to renew the exploration licence for its Kvanefjeld rare earth project, after the Greenland government gave the company 48 hours to respond to technical assessments and refused a one-week extension.

  • Terra Balcanica Secures Viogor Polymetallic Licence in Bosnia Targeting Antimony and Silver as European Critical Minerals Demand Grows

    Terra Balcanica Secures Viogor Polymetallic Licence in Bosnia Targeting Antimony and Silver as European Critical Minerals Demand Grows

    Terra Balcanica Resources has secured a new mineral exploration licence for the Viogor polymetallic project in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, consolidating three previously drilled targets into a single 49 square kilometre tenure within the historically significant Srebrenica mining district.

    The licence, issued on 20 May 2026 by the Republic of Srpska Ministry of Energy and Mines to Terra’s wholly owned subsidiary Energetski minerali doo Banja Luka, is valid for three years with two potential two-year extensions providing up to seven years of continuous exploration tenure. It covers the Čumavići polymetallic corridor, the Kiseli Potok molybdenum porphyry and the two Brežani discoveries — all defined during Terra’s exploration work between 2020 and 2022.

    The Čumavići corridor is the flagship target, hosting a series of high-grade intermediate sulphidation epithermal silver-antimony-zinc-lead-gold vein systems across more than 7.2 kilometres of strike length. The Čumavići Ridge system has been tested across more than 28 drill holes along 180 metres of strike, returning an average grade of 485 grams per tonne silver equivalent over 4.0 metres. The mineralisation is characterised by sphalerite, stibnite and galena with silver-rich sulphosalts — making antimony, a metal subject to Chinese export controls since September 2024, a key strategic commodity within the project.

    The Brežani discovery hosts a large multidomain magmatic-hydrothermal system including a 650 by 400 metre gold-bearing skarn and a structurally controlled base metal epithermal zone at depth. A discovery hole intersected approximately 20 metres of fault-breccia hosted silver-antimony-zinc mineralisation at 480 metres depth grading above 436 grams per tonne silver equivalent. An electromagnetic conductor interpreted as the antimony-silver-zinc mineralisation extends 1.2 kilometres in length and up to 600 metres in width, offering potential for a large tonnage ore body.

    The project is strategically located approximately 80 kilometres east-northeast of Dundee Precious Metals’ Vareš silver-zinc mine and adjacent to the Mineco Sase mine, which produces approximately 330,000 tonnes of lead-zinc-silver-gold concentrate per year using processing infrastructure genetically compatible with Terra’s mineralised targets.

    Terra CEO Dr. Aleksandar Mišković said securing the licence removes tenure uncertainty and paves the way for a preliminary resource estimate in 2027, positioning the company as a potential supplier of critical metals — notably antimony — to neighbouring European markets.

  • Slovakia Revokes Military Metals’ Trojarova Antimony Licence Without Explanation, Sending Shares Down 60%

    Slovakia Revokes Military Metals’ Trojarova Antimony Licence Without Explanation, Sending Shares Down 60%

    Military Metals Corp has suffered a potentially devastating setback at its flagship European asset after Slovakia’s Ministry of the Environment revoked the exploration licence for the Trojarova antimony-gold project near Bratislava without providing clear justification — a decision that sent the company’s shares sliding by up to 60% to a 52-week low on Friday.

    The revocation is particularly striking given its timing and context. The ministry’s decision came just weeks after Military Metals filed the NI 43-101 technical report supporting a maiden inferred mineral resource estimate of 6.5 million tonnes grading 1.02% antimony and 1.06 grams per tonne gold, containing 67,000 tonnes of antimony and 222,000 ounces of gold. The MRE had been published on 8 April, with analyst Christopher Ecclestone of Hallgarten & Company highlighting its strategic importance for Europe’s critical minerals needs and the value of the project’s existing Soviet-era underground infrastructure. The licence revocation also came despite Trojarova having been listed in Slovakia’s own National Program for the Exploration of Critical Mineral Raw Materials.

    Military Metals has announced it will appeal the decision within the 15-day statutory window and pursue all available legal options. The company described the revocation as inconsistent with Europe’s stated goals for secure critical mineral supply chains — a pointed observation given that antimony has been subject to Chinese export controls since September 2024, causing prices to double and exposing Western defence and semiconductor supply chains to acute vulnerability.

    Trojarova’s strategic case rests on antimony’s role in hardening lead for ammunition, flame retardants in military equipment, infrared detectors, semiconductors and next-generation batteries. The project’s location near Bratislava and its extensive historical workings were seen as advantages that could accelerate development and reduce costs relative to greenfield projects.

    While the legal battle proceeds in Slovakia, Military Metals is continuing exploration at its North American assets — the Last Chance antimony property in Nye County, Nevada, with a history of production, and the West Gore antimony-gold property in Nova Scotia, which produced during the First World War.

  • Zinnwald Lithium Secures German Permit to Build Exploration Tunnel at 193 Million Tonne Lithium Project

    Zinnwald Lithium Secures German Permit to Build Exploration Tunnel at 193 Million Tonne Lithium Project

    Zinnwald Lithium has received a permit from the Saxon Mining Authority to construct an approximately one-kilometre exploration tunnel at its Zinnwald Lithium Project in Germany, clearing a significant regulatory hurdle for one of Europe’s most advanced hard-rock lithium developments.

    The permit, granted to the company’s German subsidiary Zinnwald Lithium GmbH, allows construction of a tunnel from a portal at the former Zinnwald Border Station site — a location that has been largely idle since the Czech Republic joined the Schengen area in 2007 — adjacent to federal highway B170 between the villages of Zinnwald and Altenberg. The tunnel is valid until 31 December 2027 and may be extended.

    The exploration tunnel is designed to gather geotechnical, seismic and hydrogeological data on the ore body and will enable the extraction of up to 2,000 tonnes of bulk samples for metallurgical testing and product qualification. According to the company’s pre-feasibility study published in March 2025, a portion of the tunnel alignment may be incorporated into permanent mine infrastructure subject to future regulatory approvals — a provision that could reduce construction costs and timelines if the project advances to production.

    The permit does not authorise mining operations. Commercial production from the deposit will require additional permits, including the completion of an environmental impact assessment and a public consultation process.

    The Zinnwald project hosts a measured and indicated mineral resource estimate of 193.5 million tonnes and a proven and probable reserve of 128.1 million tonnes, with the project targeting production of battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Chief executive Anton du Plessis described the permit as “an important step in the ongoing de-risking of the Zinnwald Lithium Project” following what he called a comprehensive submission process.

  • Poland’s KGHM Sits at the Heart of Europe’s Copper and Silver Supply as Global Demand Surges Toward a Critical Shortfall

    Poland’s KGHM Sits at the Heart of Europe’s Copper and Silver Supply as Global Demand Surges Toward a Critical Shortfall

    Thousands of metres below the flat plains of western Poland, in tunnels stretching for hundreds of kilometres under suffocating heat, workers at KGHM’s Polkowice-Sieroszowice mine are extracting what geologists increasingly describe as the metals of the future — copper and silver whose strategic importance to the global economy has never been greater.

    Poland supplies between 40% and 50% of Europe’s copper, making it the continent’s dominant producer. KGHM, the state-backed metals giant that operates three underground mines alongside local smelters and operations in the Americas, ranked eighth globally in copper extraction volume last year, behind BHP, Glencore and Rio Tinto. It is also the world’s second-largest silver producer. In 2025, the group generated more than 36 billion zlotys ($9.7 billion) in revenue, producing 710,000 tonnes of copper and 1,347 tonnes of silver.

    The timing of that output matters enormously. Global copper demand is forecast to rise by more than 40% by 2040, according to a 2025 UN report, driven by the accelerating electrification of transport, the buildout of renewable energy infrastructure and surging demand from artificial intelligence data centres and defence industries. An electric vehicle contains around 80 kilograms of copper compared with 20 kilograms in a conventional car, while a single wind turbine requires between four and ten tonnes per megawatt of installed capacity. The International Energy Agency projects that supply will lag 30% behind demand as early as 2035, a gap that could require 80 new mines and $250 billion in investment by 2030.

    At KGHM’s Glogow smelter, ore is melted in furnaces at 1,200 degrees Celsius before emerging as 99.99% pure copper plates, each weighing more than 100 kilograms, which are then shipped to buyers around the world. The process underscores the vertically integrated nature of Poland’s copper industry — from extraction through refining to export — a model that gives KGHM and Poland unusual strategic weight within the European supply chain.

    That weight is being felt at the geopolitical level. Copper now appears on the strategic critical metals lists of the European Union, the United States and China simultaneously. In July, US President Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on copper, citing national security grounds and the metal’s centrality to Pentagon procurement. Prices surged 41.7% in 2025, hitting a record $14,527.50 per tonne in January of this year, and remain elevated at around $12,000 per tonne despite the Middle East conflict and global economic headwinds.

    KGHM vice president for finance Piotr Krzyzewski framed Poland’s position in explicitly continental terms: “It’s no longer about the security of our country alone, but the security of all of Europe.” The group’s known resources are estimated to sustain operations for at least 40 years, independent of new exploration and concession activity. Water consumption at the scale required for deep mining remains a vulnerability as climate change intensifies drought risk across Central Europe.

  • Portugal awards €180m grant to Lifthium Energy for northern lithium refinery

    Portugal awards €180m grant to Lifthium Energy for northern lithium refinery

    Portuguese company Lifthium Energy has secured a €180 million ($210 million) non-refundable government grant to build a lithium refinery in northern Portugal, strengthening Europe’s push to localise electric vehicle battery supply chains.

    The funding was awarded under the European Union’s Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, which allows member states to provide state aid to accelerate green and industrial transformation. Portugal, which holds around 60,000 metric tonnes of lithium reserves, is currently Europe’s largest lithium producer, though output has historically been directed mainly to the ceramics industry rather than battery applications.

    Lifthium, which is 85% owned by Portuguese conglomerate Jose de Mello with the remainder held by its subsidiary Bondalti, plans to construct the refinery in Estarreja, about 50 km south of Porto. Bondalti already operates chemical facilities in the area, providing existing industrial infrastructure for the project.

    The refinery is expected to begin operations by 2030 and is designed to produce up to 50,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year, enough to supply batteries for around two million electric vehicles. Lifthium said the plant will use proprietary technology aligned with European environmental and industrial standards.

    Lifthium CEO Duarte Braga said the project was advancing cautiously amid a more challenging lithium market and tougher industrial conditions in Europe. He noted that while the public grant is significant, the company’s next priorities are securing a strategic partner and finalising market and financing arrangements before making a final investment decision.

    In addition to the Estarreja facility, Lifthium is also considering the construction of a second lithium refinery in Spain.

    The announcement comes as Portugal’s government prepares to launch a long-delayed tender for lithium prospecting licences, a move seen as critical to developing a domestic lithium value chain and reducing Europe’s reliance on imports, particularly from China.