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<\/p>\nTo strengthen the EU\u2019s supply chains and diversify sources of critical raw materials, the European Commission has today announced that it has selected 46 new strategic projects across 16 Member States. The projects will contribute to meeting the benchmarks set out in the Critical Raw Materials Regulation, according to which, by 2030, the EU\u2019s capacity must meet at least 10 per cent of the EU\u2019s annual consumption for the extraction of, 40 per cent for the processing and 25 per cent for the recycling of strategic raw materials, with a view to improving competitiveness, building greater resilience and reducing dependence on a single supplier.<\/p>\n
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The new strategic projects are located in Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. They were selected from among the 102 applications received in response to the call for proposals, which closed earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The projects cover different stages of the raw materials value chain: eight relate to extraction, eleven to processing and nineteen to recycling projects. In addition, there are eight integrated projects: three combining extraction and processing, and five combining processing and recycling, supporting the EU\u2019s integrated approach to the value chain. The strategic projects cover fourteen of the seventeen strategic raw materials listed in the Critical Raw Materials Regulation.<\/p>\n
The projects will strengthen European value chains in the battery, defence and aerospace sectors, as well as in the permanent magnet sector. These include seven projects on lithium, twelve on nickel, ten on cobalt, five on manganese and four on graphite, all of which are intended to support the EU\u2019s battery value chain. Two projects on magnesium and three on tungsten will contribute to the defence and aerospace sectors, whilst the four projects on rare earths will support the permanent magnet value chain.<\/p>\n
The 46 projects \u2014 together with the 47 EU strategic projects and the 13 strategic projects in third countries selected in March and June last year, respectively\u2014are expected to make a significant contribution to achieving the EU\u2019s objectives of risk reduction and diversification of critical raw materials. These projects could meet all the extraction targets for lithium, nickel, rare earths, magnesium and tungsten, as well as the processing benchmarks for lithium and rare earths. They could also cover 89 per cent of the processing benchmark for cobalt and 57 per cent and 51 per cent for tungsten and magnesium, respectively, whilst fully meeting the recycling benchmarks for lithium, cobalt and rare earths.<\/p>\n