EU COMMISSION TO CREATE SUPPLY CHAINS FOR RAW MATERIALS

The European Commission has unveiled plans to create domestic supply chains for raw materials, including lithium, seen as critical to the bloc's digital and green transition.

Euronews reported that the EU's Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials aims to reduce Europe's dependency on third countries by strengthening domestic sourcing of raw materials in the EU and diversifying supply from both primary and secondary sources.

"A number of raw materials are essential for Europe to lead the green and digital transition and remain the world's first industrial continent," Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market, said in a statement.

"We cannot afford to rely entirely on third countries – for some rare earths even on just one country. By diversifying the supply from third countries and developing the EU's own capacity for extraction, processing, recycling, refining and separation of rare earths, we can become more resilient and sustainable," he added.

According to the American Geosciences institutes, rare earth elements (REE) are a set of seventeen metallic elements which include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium.

A European Raw Materials Alliance is to be established in the coming weeks to work out what the bloc's most pressing needs are.

Brussels and member states will work to identify mining and processing projects in the EU that can be operational by 2025.

The Commission also plans to develop strategic international partnerships with third countries, including Canada, countries in Africa and in the bloc's neighbourhood with pilot partnerships to start as of 2021.

The Commission has added several new materials to its Critical Raw Materials list: Lithium, Bauxite, Titanium, and Strontium.