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The EU has drawn up a priority list of 47 projects for the mining and processing of critical raw materials, which local authorities will be required to fast-track through the permitting process in as little as 15 months or less.
ADVERTISEMENTAs it rushes to ramp up domestic production amid an intensifying global scramble for essential elements like lithium, cobalt, copper and rare earth metals, the European Commission has drawn up a list of mining and processing projects it wants to see up and running by the end of the decade.“We do not want to replace our dependence on fossil fuels with dependence on raw materials,” Vice-president responsible for industrial strategy Stéphane Séjourné told reporters in Brussels today. “Chinese lithium will not be tomorrow’s Russian gas.”The French commissioner was alluding to the Kremlin’s weaponisation of its stranglehold on much of Europe’s natural gas supplies in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China position as the pre-eminent supplier of many essential elements, including nearly all of the rare earths imported into the EU.Lithium – a key ingredient in electric vehicle batteries – is just one of 34 raw materials the EU has identified as critical for the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy and the new digital economy, half of which Brussels has deemed to be of heightened strategic importance.The EU list – which can be explored in an interactive map – includes industrial projects to mine or process lithium in Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Czechia and Finland. Altogether, the various projects are spread across 13 member states.Lithium and cobalt on trackUnder a Critical Raw Materials Act adopted a year ago, governments are committed to ensuring that 10% of mineral extraction, 40% of processing and 25% of recycling takes place within the EU by the end of the decade.The Commission said the bloc would fully meet these targets in respect of lithium and cobalt if the relevant projects – selected on the basis of maturity and viability – come to fruition, while making “substantial progress” on graphite, nickel and manganese.The Act calls on EU member states to ensure streamlined permitting for selected projects, within 27 months for mining ventures, and 15 months for processing and recycling facilities.The Commission’s newly created Critical Raw Materials Board will work with the firms involved to raise the total of €22.5 billion of capital investment they are estimated to require, for example by facilitating financing through development banks.The European Investment Bank’s board agreed last week to launch a new critical raw materials strategic initiative, which will make available €2bn in financing for investment this year alone.Of 170 that applied for designation as an EU Strategic Project, 46 were from outside the EU and will be decided upon in the coming weeks after further deliberations that Séjourné acknowledged would involve a political dimension.The Commission vice-president denied, however, that the actions of the US – which has signalled an interest in critical raw materials in Greenland, Ukraine and even Canada – were a driving force behind the EU’s raw materials policy, which has been gathering speed for several years.“On the other hand, there is probably a measure of urgence and speed that did not exist three or four months ago in commercial relations and geopolitical tensions, which we must take into account,” he said.Trump takes actionThe urgency is clearly being felt across the Atlantic. In an executive order last Thursday, President Trump announced “immediate measures to increase American mineral production” which similarly looks to slash permitting delays, while also making it a defence matter as well as one of energy security.But not all observers are happy with the pace at which Brussels is moving. Robin Roels, coordinator of the EU Raw Materials Coalition of environmental NGOs warned the Commission risked undermining public trust through an “opaque” selection process.ADVERTISEMENT“If the EU is serious about a fair and sustainable transition, it must open up this process to genuine scrutiny and ensure that community voices are heard,” roles said. “Despite repeated requests, the full list of project applicants and the evaluation criteria remain undisclosed.”The Commission is clearly aware that public opposition to mining projects – which has stymied efforts to develop lithium extraction in Portugal and Serbia, to give just two recent examples – will need to be overcome if the EU is to achieve its 2030 targets.“Producing in Europe will also mean political work on the social acceptability of these projects,” Séjourné said, stressing the need to underline the national as well as European interests at stake.
