This question has many answers but let’s stick to the fact that the EU commission has pointed out the need for our continent to increase its self-sufficiency regarding critical raw materials, such as battery minerals. It’s a strong message that we need more mines to power the green transition. To enable this and the financing needed for more mines, smooth and predictability in permit processes needs to happ
Minerals and metals play a significant role in industrial development. Whether it has to do with digitalisation, electrification, or new innovations, minerals are needed in everything. As these critical raw materials are increasingly sought after by states and industries worldwide, we need to source our own materials to ensure we have enough supply. A reasonable, responsible, and sustainable way to do this is to open more mines in Europe.
With our strong labour and environmental laws and regulations, as well as innovative attitude, we will be able to mine in a much more responsible way than in certain parts of the world where child labour, pollutions and poor working conditions are common.
A short answer is yes; we do have all the minerals and metals we need to cater for our demands within Europe. However, as mining has always been seen as a critical activity here, there is a lot of work done when it comes to the investigation of different mineral resources across Europe. From this, the conclusion is that we have all materials we need – now, it’s rather a matter of creating a regulatory environment that enables the establishment of new mines along with financing.
At Eurobattery Minerals, we strongly support a more aligned European agenda for mining. We strongly believe that a common agenda would enable us to establish a project where we are able to source the most possible minerals and metals at the lowest possible impact. However, it needs to be done in close collaboration and partnership with the local community.