The European Commission has selected 46 new strategic projects for critical raw materials in 16 European Union countries. They will receive priority in permit procedures, as well as support in seeking public and private financing, as Brussels seeks to reduce the bloc's dependence on China.
The projects cover 15 of the 17 strategic raw materials on the EU list. They include copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite, rare earth elements, magnesium and tungsten. These materials are key to the production of batteries, electric vehicles, renewable energy, defense and aerospace equipment.
“The new 46 projects are expected to require around 21.1 billion euros of capital investment, mobilised from a combination of public and private sources“, the European Commission said, quoted by Reuters. However, designating an initiative as a strategic project does not automatically mean that it will receive funding from the EU budget. The Commission will facilitate access to existing financial instruments and connect developers with potential lenders.
Projects from Germany to Sweden
Among the initiatives listed are the Zinwald lithium project in Germany, the Skorries mine in Greece, the planned Arktial aluminium plant in Finland and the Viscaria copper project in Sweden. The list also includes projects supported by major European industrial groups such as Umicore, Aurubis and Leonardo.
The acceleration of administrative procedures is expected to reduce the time to implementation of the projects. They will have to continue to comply with environmental protection requirements and other permit conditions.
EU 2030 targets
The new selection is part of the implementation of the European Critical Raw Materials Act. According to the targets set by 2030, the EU must extract at least 10% of its annual consumption of strategic raw materials, process 40% and recycle 25% of them.
The European Union and other Western economies continue to rely heavily on China for critical minerals and components. Beijing is increasingly using these dependencies as a tool in trade relations, which is increasing pressure on Brussels to diversify its supplies and develop domestic mining, processing and recycling.
The new 46 projects follow the first list of 60 strategic initiatives announced last year. At that time, 47 projects were in the EU and 13 were outside it, including in Brazil, Greenland and Kazakhstan.