Critical Raw Materials Act: EU funds 47 raw materials projects

As part of the Critical Raw Materials Act, the EU Commission has selected 47 strategic projects to secure and diversify access to raw materials in the EU. The 47 projects, located in 13 EU member states, cover one or more segments of the raw materials value chain - including battery production.

According to the EU Commission, 25 projects cover the extraction, 24 the processing, ten the recycling and two the substitution of raw materials. The strategic projects cover 14 of the 17 strategic raw materials listed in the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). These include several projects in the areas of lithium (22 projects), nickel (twelve projects), cobalt (ten projects), manganese (seven projects) and graphite (eleven projects) – all of which are important battery materials.

“These projects will ensure that the EU can fully meet its extraction, processing and recycling 2030 benchmarks for lithium and cobalt, while making substantial progress for graphite, nickel and manganese,” the Commission writes.

The Commission promises the 47 selected projects two major benefits in particular: easier access to the necessary funding and faster approval processes. According to the communication, the 47 projects have a total investment volume of 22.5 billion euros. “These projects will be able to benefit from coordinated support by the Commission, Member States and financial institutions to become operational, notably regarding access to finance and support to connect with relevant off-takers,” the Commission adds.

In practice, the “streamlined authorisation provisions” are at least as important as the financing for successful implementation by 2030. This is because authorisation procedures for raw materials projects can take between five and ten years. “In line with the CRMA, the permit-granting process will not exceed 27 months for extraction projects and 15 months for other projects. Currently, permitting processes can last from five to 10 years,” the Commission has now announced. These are figures that politicians will have to be measured against in future.

“Raw materials are at the very beginning of our strategically most important supply chains. They are also essential for the decarbonisation of our continent,” says Stéphane Séjourné, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services and Vice-President of the Commission responsible for industrial strategy. “But Europe is currently dependent on third countries for many of the raw materials it needs most. We need to increase our own production, diversify our external supply and build up stocks.”

Applications for strategic raw materials projects were possible last summer. Independent experts then assessed the technical, financial and sustainability aspects of the projects, their classification according to the United Nations Framework Classification of Resources and, last but not least, whether the projects fulfil the criteria of the Critical Raw Materials Act. Based on these assessments, the Commission then drew up a preliminary list of selected projects and discussed it with the Critical Raw Materials Committee in order to arrive at the final list.

Even though the 47 selected projects are all located in EU member states, this is not mandatory – as long as the projects fulfil the CRMA criteria. According to the Commission, it has received 46 applications for projects in third countries. “The Decision on the potential selection of such projects will be adopted at a later stage,” the press release states.

Three of the 47 projects are located in Germany: Vulcan Energy’s well-known lithium extraction from geothermal brine involves the extraction of raw materials. The ProHiPerSi project from PCC Thorion GmbH in Duisburg is about the substitution of graphite as a battery material. The lithium hydroxide converter from Rock Tech Lithium in Guben has also made it onto the final project list.

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