The European Commission has approved a list of 47 Strategic Projects aimed at strengthening domestic strategic raw materials capabilities. These are located in 13 Member States, including Greece which participates with gallium.
The projects aim to strengthen the European raw materials value chain and diversify sources of supply. The development marks an important milestone in the implementation of the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which seeks to ensure that the extraction, processing and recycling of strategic raw materials in Europe will cover 10%, 40% and 25% of EU demand by 2030, respectively.
By contributing to these goals, the new Strategic Projects make a significant contribution to Europe’s green and digital transitions, while supporting the EU’s defense and aerospace industries.
47 new Strategic Projects:
- They are located in: Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Estonia, Czech Republic, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Poland and Romania.
- They cover one or more parts of the raw materials value chain, with 25 projects involving mining activities, 24 processing, 10 recycling and 2 raw material substitution.
- They concern 14 of the 17 strategic raw materials included in the Critical Raw Materials Act. Among them, several projects concern lithium (22 projects), nickel (12 projects), cobalt (10 projects), manganese (7 projects) and graphite (11 projects), which will particularly benefit the EU battery raw materials value chain.
Investments of 22.5 billion euros
To become operational, the 47 Strategic Projects will require a total capital investment of 22.5 billion euros.
