Brazil, Ukraine, and South Africa: the list of rare earth mines to be exploited by the EU
Brussels approves exploitation projects outside EU borders to increase strategic autonomy
BrusselsOne of the main objectives of Ursula von der Leyen's European Commission is to increase the autonomy of the European UnionAnd to achieve this, Brussels wants to have access to natural resources and stop depending on other world powers, especially China. In this regard, the European Commission announced this Wednesday an initial list of 13 projects for the exploitation and handling of rare earth mines outside the European Union or in overseas territories.
Specifically, the European Commission has approved projects in Canada, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Ukraine, and Zambia, which are countries that already have a rare earth alliance with the European Union. It will also deploy projects in Brazil, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Regarding overseas territories that are EU territory, it includes operations in Greenland and New Caledonia.
Brussels assures in a statement that most of these projects, which it describes as "strategic," are "essential" for the electric car and battery industry. These necessary rare earths, for example, include lithium, nickel, cobalt, magnesium, and graphite, among others. Other mines also seek to extract key materials for the energy transition and the manufacture of wind turbine engines, as well as raw materials widely used in the automotive sector in general, and in the aerospace and defense sectors.
![Les instal·lacions de la companyia estatal minera de Suècia LKAB a Kiruna, al nord del país.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 16 9"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The mines selected by the European Commission will be eligible for funding from member states and the EU as a whole, totaling €5.5 billion to begin operations. "These projects will increase the EU's rare earth security," the statement issued by the EU executive states.
The list announced Wednesday by Brussels will be added to the list of mining operations within the European Union that are already being deployed. There are currently 47 approved mines in the EU, and they exist in almost all member states of the European bloc. However, there are currently none in the Catalan Countries.
