{"id":428704,"date":"2025-06-04T16:27:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T14:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/06\/04\/progetti-materie-prime-critiche-extra-ue-2\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T19:46:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T17:46:42","slug":"eu-launches-13-projects-in-third-countries-to-diversify-imports-of-critical-minerals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/06\/04\/eu-launches-13-projects-in-third-countries-to-diversify-imports-of-critical-minerals\/","title":{"rendered":"EU launches 13 projects in third countries to diversify imports of critical minerals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The watchword: diversification<\/strong>. This is the imperative that is driving the EU when it comes to the supply and processing of so-called critical raw materials<\/strong>: indispensable elements for the green and digital transitions<\/strong>, but of which the Old Continent is dramatically lacking.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the\u00a0list<\/a><\/span>\u00a0drawn up by the European Commission<\/a>, there are 34 critical raw materials of strategic interest<\/strong> to Brussels. The problem lies in the fact that their supply is highly concentrated<\/strong>: for example, out of the total imports of the Twenty-Seven, heavy rare earths are supplied 100 per cent by\u00a0China, 99 per cent of boron comes from\u00a0Turkey, and South Africa supplies 71 per cent of the platinum.<\/p>\n

Therefore, in an attempt to mitigate the risks associated with relying on a single supplier<\/strong>, the twelve-star executive approved today<\/a> (4 June) a list of 13 strategic projects<\/strong> for the extraction and processing<\/strong> of such raw materials to be implemented between now and the next few years in 11 third countries<\/strong> (Brazil, Canada, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Malawi, Norway, United Kingdom, Serbia, South Africa, Ukraine, and Zambia) and two overseas territories<\/strong> (Greenland and New Caledonia).<\/p>\n

The aim is to secure the supply of some of the above materials<\/strong>\u00a0(e.g. cobalt, graphite, lithium, manganese and nickel, but also boron, copper, tungsten and some rare earths) and not to fall (too) behind in the global challenge for competitiveness, which in the 21st century is mainly played out in key sectors such as defence<\/strong>, aerospace<\/strong>, electrical mobility<\/strong> and renewable energy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Hrynchuk<\/a>
From left: Ukrainian Minister for Natural Resources, Svitlana Hrynchuk, UK Secretary of State for Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, and European Commission Executive Vice-President in charge of Industry, St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9 (photo: Lukasz Kobus\/European Commission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the words of the Commission’s executive vice-president in charge of industry, St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9<\/strong>, this is the “second act towards independence<\/strong> (of the EU, ed) in the area of critical raw materials<\/strong>,” which are proving to be “essential for our sovereignty<\/strong> in these geopolitically tense and troubled times.” We must “diversify our imports<\/strong>,” she stressed, noting that “no country should supply us more than 75 per cent of our annual needs<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The Vice-President assured that the adoption of the new project list opens the door to “win-win partnerships”<\/strong> between the Twenty-Seven and interested third countries. The first act referred to is a similar project list<\/strong> of 47 projects<\/strong> for the extraction, processing, recycling, and substitution of strategic raw materials within the Union<\/strong>, adopted by the EU executive last March<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking alongside S\u00e9journ\u00e9, the UK Secretary of State for Trade, Jonathan Reynolds<\/strong>, welcomed the deepening of the industrial partnership<\/strong> between London and Brussels, emphasising the UK and EU’s common interest<\/strong> in ever closer cooperation on strategic raw materials<\/strong>. Among the projects approved today is one for the extraction of tungsten<\/strong> (used in defence, medicine and nuclear power) near Plymouth<\/strong>, England.<\/p>\n

Alongside S\u00e9journ\u00e9 and Reynolds was also the Ukrainian Minister of Natural Resources, Svitlana Hrynchuk<\/strong>. Kyiv has\u00a0received the green light from the EU executive for a\u00a0graphite mining project in the Inhuletske<\/strong>\u00a0area<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/span>central Ukraine. Hrynchuk reiterated that “Europe needs reliable, long-term supplies<\/strong> of critical raw materials to ensure it maintains its economic, industrial, technological, and geopolitical security<\/strong>“.<\/p>\n

\"St\u00e9phane<\/a>
European Commission Vice-President in charge of Industry, St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9, and the Ukrainian Minister of Natural Resources, Svitlana Hrynchuk (photo: Lukasz Kobus\/European Commission)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He also recalled that “we already have very good cooperation with the Commission and Member States in the mining sector<\/strong>“. In\u00a02021, a memorandum of understanding<\/strong> was concluded precisely on the exploitation of the riches in the Kyiv subsoil, which, according to S\u00e9journ\u00e9, “must be implemented gradually.”<\/p>\n

In fact, Ukraine
\nrecently concluded<\/a> another significant\u00a0and equally controversial agreement on critical raw materials with the\u00a0United States<\/strong>, after the signing seemed to have faded irretrievably following<\/span>\u00a0the ambush laid by Donald Trump<\/strong> and JD Vance<\/strong> on Volodymyr Zelensky<\/strong> in the Oval Office at the end of February.\u00a0However, the minister assured, with the\u00a0special investment fund<\/strong>\u00a0introduced by that agreement, “we will finance projects on critical raw materials together with EU member states and the Commission as well.” Meanwhile, the commitment to\u00a0“implement EU rules in Ukrainian legislation<\/strong>, including in the mining sector,”<\/span>\u00a0remains firm.<\/p>\n

Today’s is the first list of non-EU projects approved since the Critical Raw Materials Act<\/strong>\u00a0came into force in May 2024. Based on the\u00a0<\/a>guidelines\u00a0<\/a>introduced by this regulatory framework, Brussels has set\u00a0targets for the extraction, processing, and recycling<\/strong>\u00a0of these strategic materials of\u00a010, 40, and 25 per cent,<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0respectively, to be achieved by 2030<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

All in all, this latest building block in the aggressive continental reindustrialisation strategy<\/strong>\u00a0sought by\u00a0Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>\u00a0since the beginning of her second term<\/a>\u00a0is expected to cost around\u00a0\u20ac5.5 billion\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>as initial investment, according to Berlaymont’s estimates. Which will have to be put up by the Commission, the Member States and other financial institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They will primarily concern the extraction and processing of several strategic raw materials. According to Commission Executive Vice-President Stephane S\u00e9journ\u00e9, these are “win-win partnerships” between the Twenty-Seven and third countries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":428695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[26776,31391,31392,26539,31393],"class_list":["post-428704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-materie-prime-critiche-en","tag-critical-raw-materials-act-en","tag-jonathan-reynolds-en","tag-stephane-sejourne-en","tag-svitlana-hrynchuk-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428704"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":428801,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428704\/revisions\/428801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}