{"id":1205428,"date":"2020-09-03T05:56:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-03T10:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1034592"},"modified":"2020-09-03T05:56:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-03T10:56:00","slug":"eu-adds-lithium-to-critical-raw-materials-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1205428","title":{"rendered":"EU adds lithium to critical raw materials list"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Union has added lithium, used in batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs), to a list of critical materials which development plans to support locally as part of a strategy to reduce reliance on imported supply.<\/p>\n

The group of 27 nations<\/a> will need about 60 times more lithium and 15 times more cobalt for EV batteries and energy storage by 2050, analysts estimate. The bloc\u2019s demand for rare earths, used in high-tech devices and military applications, is predicted to increase 10-fold over the same period.<\/p>\n

The European Commission, the EU\u2019s executive arm,\u00a0said on Thursday<\/a> that the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the world\u2019s increasing reliance on electronics and technology for remote work, education and communication.<\/p>\n

As a result, shortages of the key elements needed in the manufacturing of those items threaten to undermine crucial industries and expose the bloc to supply squeezes by China and other resource-rich countries, the Commission said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to drastically change our approach,\u201d vice-president Maros Sefcovic said in a statement. \u201cWe cannot allow to replace current reliance on fossil fuels with dependency on critical raw materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EU imports around 98% of rare earths from China. Turkey supplies 98% of its borate, while Chile meets 78% of Europe\u2019s lithium needs. South Africa provides 71% of its platinum and Brazil supplies 85% of the old continent\u2019s niobium, a crucial part of steel alloys used in jet engines, girders and oil pipelines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot afford to rely entirely on third countries,\u201d European Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton added. \u201cBy diversifying the supply from third countries and developing the EU\u2019s own capacity for extraction, processing, recycling, refining and separation of rare earths, we can become more resilient and sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Brussels, Belgium-based body, which first drew up an inventory of critical raw materials in 2011 in response to soaring commodity prices, also added aluminum ore bauxite, titanium \u2014 used in aerospace and for orthopaedic implants \u2014, and strontium \u2014 an ingredients for EV magnets \u2014 to the list.<\/p>\n

The body eliminated helium from the group of now 30 materials.<\/p>\n

Raw Materials Alliance<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As part of the strategy unveiled on Thursday, the European Commission vowed to create a raw-materials alliance by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

The coalition will include industry members, investors, the European Investment Bank, EU countries and others that can help secure raw mineral supply chains.<\/p>\n

The Commission also plans to promote recycling of vital elements, particularly rare earths. It said that while recycling works well in Europe, less than 1% of products containing the components are actually recovered to be treated.<\/p>\n

The activity would drive investment and innovation within Europe, it noted.<\/p>\n

The commission also said it wants to start a partnership with Canada and interested African countries next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Move is part of a broader plan to cut reliance on imported supply of key commodities, including rare earths and cobalt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1016,2849,369,2857],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1205428"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1205498,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1205428\/revisions\/1205498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1205428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1205428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1205428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}