EU selects 13 new projects for critical materials, including Greenland

The European Commission announced on Wednesday 13 new raw materials projects outside of the EU to increase its supply of metals, minerals and other essential elements for the bloc's competitiveness in energy transition and defence and aerospace.

After China announced in April that it would restrict exports of rare earth magnets unless new licenses were obtained, the EU made its announcement. Diplomats, carmakers, and other executives, from Europe and beyond, are now left with no choice but to accept this decision.

Scrambling

To secure meetings with Beijing officials in order to avoid factory closures.

China controls over 90% of the global processing capacity in magnets. These are used everywhere from cars and fighter jets to household appliances. Beijing is the largest supplier of key inputs to renewable energy. This includes rare earths and batteries, as well as solar panels.

The EU list is part the implementation of Critical Raw Material Act, which was agreed in 2023. Under this act, the bloc aims at mining 10% of its raw material needs and processing 40% of them.

The majority of new projects will focus on materials that are essential for electric vehicles batteries and battery storage, including lithium, manganese, cobalt and graphite. Malawi and South Africa are home to two rare earths projects. Rare earths is used in the production of magnets for wind turbines.

The projects are located across the globe in Britain, Canada and Greenland. They also include Serbia, Ukraine, Zambia as well as New Caledonia, Brazil, Kazakhstan, Norway and Greenland.

GreenRoc Strategic Materials is running the Greenland project. The British project will extract tungsten, while the projects in Ukraine and Greenland are for graphite.

Greenland is a source of tension this year between Brussels and Washington after U.S. president Donald Trump said repeatedly that he wants to acquire the Danish oversea territory.

U.S. officials are discussing a plan that would bring Greenland under the sphere of America's influence. This is a COFA agreement, which has been used by the United States to maintain close relations with several Pacific Island countries. Under COFA the U.S. offers essential services in exchange for the U.S. Military operating freely and a large amount of trade with the U.S. being duty-free.

According to the EU, the total capital investment required for the projects is estimated at 5.5 billion euro ($6.27 billion). The Commission, the member states and the lenders would provide coordinated financial support as well as buyer interest.

This new list brings to 60 the total number strategic projects. In March, 47 EU projects were announced by the Commission. (Reporting and editing by Kate Mayberry; Julia Payne)

(source: Reuters)