EU names 13 raw materials projects outside the bloc
The European Commission has selected 13 projects in countries outside the EU to secure access to raw materials.
The initiative complements the 47 Strategic Projects in the EU that was adopted by the Commission on the 25 March of this year.
All 60 Strategy Projects are designed to contribute to the competitiveness of EU's industry and in particular sectors such as electro mobility, renewable energy, defence and aerospace.
The Commission says they are the first results of the implementation of the Critical Raw Materials Act, which came into force in May 2024.
Among the 13 Strategic Projects, seven are located in Canada, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Norway, Serbia, Ukraine and Zambia, with whom the EU has a strategic partnership on raw materials value chains; two are located in an overseas country or territory, Greenland and New Caledonia; and the remaining ones are located in Brazil, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Ten of these concern strategic raw materials essential for electric vehicle, batteries and battery storage, like lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite. Two projects cover the extraction of rare-earth elements, which play a key role in producing high-performance magnets used in wind turbines or electric motors for renewable energy technologies and electro mobility.
Combined with the three Strategic Projects in the EU that cover the processing of rare-earths, these additional ones are to increase the bloc's security of supply of rare-earths. Strategic Projects also cover copper, used from power-grid to microelectronics, tungsten, and boron, used in the automotive, renewable energy, aerospace and defence sectors.
The selected 13 projects will benefit from coordinated support by the Commission, it reports, and from Member States and financial institutions in the form of facilitating access to finance and contacts with relevant off-takers. The Commission estimates that the 13 need an overall capital investment of €5.5bln to start operations.
One of the selected 13 Strategic Projects is the Hemerdon Mine in Devon, UK, which is being explored by Tungsten West PLC. The miner has recently concluded its development and economic plan for Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon, UK. The company is releasing the plan – along with associated summary economics, reserves and resources – ahead of completion of a fully updated feasbility study.
It claims to have secured a globally significant, fully permitted, shovel ready tungsten resource that can be brought into production quickly and at low cost to provide a source of strategic and critical minerals.
Tungsten West says that Hemerdon is expected to produce approximately 20% of global supply of primary tungsten from outside the People's Republic of China and will commence operations approximately 12 months from funding. It is currently in discussions with several parties regarding financing, and expects to complete fundraising by the end of 2025.
