The European Commission has designated 46 strategic raw-material projects for
accelerated permitting and support to access public and private funding. The
projects span 16 EU member states and cover 15 of the 17 critical raw materials
on the EU list, including copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, graphite,
rare earths, magnesium and tungsten. The move is pitched to help meet targets in
the Critical Raw Materials Act that aim for EU domestic mining, processing and
recycling to supply 10%, 40% and 25% of annual demand respectively by 2030. The
Commission has mobilized over €2.0bn (~$2.24bn) of public funds so far but said
last year’s projects advanced slowly; developers warned in August that, without
emergency funding, more projects could fail. The 46 projects are estimated to
need about €21.1bn (~$23.7bn) of capital, to be raised from public and private channels.
