The European Commission has approved a new group of strategic mining, processing and recycling projects across 16 member states, seeking to reduce Europe’s dependence on imported minerals used in batteries, industrial machinery and advanced technologies.
The European Commission has selected 46 new strategic projects for critical raw materials across 16 EU member states, expanding efforts to develop domestic extraction, processing and recycling capacity for minerals essential to European industry.
The projects announced on 9 October were chosen from 102 applications and form the second round of approvals under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act.
They include developments involving lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, rare earth elements, magnesium and tungsten. These materials are used in electric vehicles, batteries, industrial machinery, semiconductor technologies, aerospace equipment and energy infrastructure.
The initiative is intended to address a persistent weakness in Europe’s industrial supply chains: the concentration of important raw-material extraction and processing activities in a limited number of countries outside the EU.
Building a European supply chain
The newly selected projects cover several stages of industrial production.
Eight concern extraction, 11 processing and 19 recycling. Another eight are integrated developments combining extraction with processing or processing with recycling.
The projects are located in Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden.
Their commercial significance extends beyond the mining sector. European automotive manufacturers need reliable supplies of battery materials, while machinery producers depend on specialised metals for magnets, tooling and high-performance components.
The Commission identified seven projects involving lithium, 12 nickel projects, ten cobalt projects, five manganese projects and four graphite projects supporting battery value chains.
Other developments address materials such as tungsten and magnesium, which are important to aerospace manufacturing and precision engineering.
For manufacturers, a geographically diversified supply chain can reduce exposure to export restrictions, transport disruption and sudden changes in international prices.
However, creating European production capacity will also depend on processing costs, access to energy, environmental requirements and the willingness of customers to enter long-term purchasing agreements.
The targets for 2030
The Critical Raw Materials Act, which entered into force in May 2024, established benchmarks for European capacity.
By 2030, the EU aims to have domestic extraction capacity equivalent to at least 10 per cent of its annual consumption of strategic raw materials, processing capacity covering 40 per cent and recycling capacity covering 25 per cent.
These are EU-level benchmarks rather than compulsory production quotas for individual companies.
According to the Commission, the newly selected projects, together with those approved in 2025, could allow Europe to meet extraction benchmarks for lithium, nickel, rare earth elements, magnesium and tungsten.
The Commission also estimates that the combined projects could fulfil recycling benchmarks for lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements.
Those projections depend on the projects reaching production. Selection as a strategic project does not establish that construction is complete, financing is secured or commercial output has begun.
Financing and faster permits
Strategic status is intended to improve access to financing and accelerate administrative procedures.
Mining and processing facilities often require substantial capital expenditure before generating revenue. Investors must also account for planning decisions, environmental impact assessments, construction timelines and commodity-price fluctuations.
The Commission reports that, among the projects selected in the first round, 25 have completed environmental impact assessments and 17 have received construction permits.
More than €2 billion in financial support has been mobilised through instruments including the Innovation Fund, state aid and the European Investment Bank.
That support should not be interpreted as a financing guarantee for all newly selected projects. Commercial lenders, private investors and industrial customers will still need to assess individual business cases.
Purchasing arrangements are particularly important. A processing facility may be technically viable but financially difficult to establish unless manufacturers commit to buying its output.
The Commission’s Raw Materials Mechanism is intended to support these connections between producers and potential customers.
Industrial implications
Europe’s strategy is not simply to replace imported materials with domestic extraction. It is also intended to establish the processing and recycling capacity needed to turn raw inputs into commercially usable industrial products.
Recycling can become increasingly important as electric-vehicle batteries, manufacturing equipment and other products reach the end of their service lives.
Yet recycled materials must meet technical standards, be available in sufficient quantities and compete economically with primary production.
The EU’s expanding project portfolio indicates where policymakers expect new industrial capacity to develop. It does not remove the financial and technological uncertainties associated with individual projects.
For European manufacturers, the longer-term question is whether these investments can provide commercially competitive supplies while reducing dependence on concentrated international markets.
The outcome will be measured not by the number of projects selected, but by the production capacity that eventually becomes operational.
