EU selects 13 new projects for critical materials, including Greenland
The European Union announced Wednesday 13 new raw materials projects outside of the bloc in order to increase its supply of metals, minerals and other essential elements for the EU to remain competitive in energy transition and defence and aerospace.
This announcement comes after China decided in April to restrict exports of rare earth magnets unless new licenses were obtained. Diplomats, carmakers, and other companies, from Europe and beyond, are scrambling for meetings with Beijing officials to avoid factory closures.
The export bans have increased our desire to diversify, said Stephane Sejourne, European Commissioner for Industry.
China controls over 90% of the global processing capacity in magnets. These are used everywhere from cars and fighter jets to household appliances. China is the largest supplier of key inputs to renewable energy. This includes rare earth minerals 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.
Ten new projects will focus on materials that are essential for batteries in electric vehicles and battery storage. These include lithium, cobalt and manganese. Malawi and South Africa are home to two projects for rare Earths.
Other projects are located throughout the world, including in Britain, Canada and Greenland. They also include Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Norway. Serbia, Ukraine. Zambia.
GreenRoc Strategic Materials is in charge of the Greenland project. The British project will extract graphite and the Ukrainian and Greenland projects will extract tungsten. Tungsten is essential for the defence industry.
POLITICAL TENSIONS
Greenland is a source of tension this year between Brussels and Washington after U.S. president Donald Trump said repeatedly that he wanted 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.
The Serbian lithium project, which is run by Rio Tinto, can produce 90% of Europe’s needs. The project was almost a failure after the government revoked a miner's license in 2022. Rio Tinto was granted rights by a Serbian court last year. Many Serbs are against the Jadar project because they believe its development will harm the environment.
Rio Tinto stated that Serbia could become a major player in the supply chain for electric vehicles with its estimated annual production of 58,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate.
According to the EU, the total capital investment required for the projects is estimated at 5.5 billion euro ($6.3 billion). The European Commission, the member states and lenders would provide coordinated financial support as well as buyer interest.
With the addition of this new list, the total number strategic projects in Europe now stands at 60. In March, 47 EU projects were announced by the Commission. Reporting by Julia Payne. Aleksandar Vaovic contributed additional reporting from Belgrade. Kate Mayberry, Mark Potter and Kate Mayberry edited the article.
(source: Reuters)
